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m  iii|y 

2.2 


^  m  12.0 


IIM 

LA.  11 1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions 


Instltut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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V 


□ 


D 
D 


D 
D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Letit 


D 


titre  de  couverture  manque 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Th 
to 


Th 
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of 
fill 


Or 
be 
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oti 
fir 
sic 
or 


Th 
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Til 
wl 

Ml 
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be 
rig 
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m( 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


7 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


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or  illustrated  impression. 


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dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
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originaux  sont  film6s  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichd,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup^rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n6cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

A 


i 


ANCIENT  ABORIGINAL  TRADE 


IN 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


BV 


OHARLES     IIAU 


EEPRINTED  FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 
INSTITUTION  FOR  1872. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 

1878. 


A] 


J 


i 


ANCIENT  ABORIGINAL  TRADE 


vx 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


BY 


OHARLES     RAU. 


BEPRIMTED  FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 
INSTITUTION  FOR  1872. 


WASHINGTON: 

OOYEBNMENT    PBINTINO     OFFICE. 
1873. 


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ANCIENT  ABORIGINAL  TRADE  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


By  Chakles  R\u. 


The  following  essay  was  pnblishod  in  German,  Vol.  V  of  the  Archiv  fiir  Anthro- 
pologic (Brnnuachweig,  1872);  but  as  the  subject  is  purely  North  American  in  char- 
acter, the  author  has  deemed  it  proper  to  prepare  a  version  in  the  language  of  the 
country  to  which  it  refers.  The  present  reproduction,  however,  is  enlarged  and  im- 
proved. 


CONTENTS, 


Page. 
1 


Introduction  

Copper 3 

Galena 8 

Olisiiliau 10 

Mica 13 

Slate 15 


Pnge. 

Flint..... 18 

Red  Pipestone 21 

Shells 25 

Pearls 36 

Division  of  Labor 39 

Conclusion 45     . 


INTRODUCTION. 

Iiidicatioiis  are  not  waiitiug  that  a  kind  of  trade  or  traffic  of  some 
extent  existed  among  the  prehistoric  inhabitants  of  Europe,  even  at  a 
time  when  they  stood  comparatively  low  in  the  scale  of  human  develop- 
ment. The  same  practice  prevailed  in  North  America,  before  that  part 
of  the  new  world  was  settled  by  Europeans ;  and  as  the  the  subject  of 
primitive  commerce  is  of  particular  interest,  because  it  sheds  addi- 
tional light  on  the  conditions  of  life  among  by-gone  races,  I  have  col- 
lected a  number  of  data  bearing  on  the  trade-relations  of  the  former 
inhabitants  of  North  America.  The  fact  that  such  a  trade  was  carried 
on  is  proved,  beyond  any  doubt,  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of  Indian 
manufactures  consisting  of  materials  which  were  evidently  obtained  from 
far  distant  localities.  In  many  cases,  however,  these  manufactures  may 
have  been  brought  as  booty,  and  not  by  trade,  to  the  places  where  they 
are  found  in  our  days.  The  modern  Indians,  it  is  well  known,  sometimes 
undertook  expeditions  of  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  miles,  in  order  to 
attack  their  enemies.  The  warlike  Iroquois,  for  example,  who  inhabited 
the  pre;  ent  State  of  New  York,  frequently  followed  the  war-path  as  far 
as  the  Mississippi  river.  Thus,  in  the  year  1680,  six  hundred  warriors 
of  the  Seneca  tribe  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Illinois,  among  whom  La 
Salle  sojourned  just  at  that  time,  preparing  to  descend  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.*    More  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  traveler 

*  Morgan,  League  of  the  Iroquois,  Rochester,  1651,  p.  13.  More  precise  information 
concerning  this  memorable  expedition  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Hennepin, 
Membrd,  Lahontan,  and  others. 


ANCIENT   ABOKIGINAL    TRADE    IN   NOUTII    AMERICA. 


Carver  learned  from  the  Winnebagoes  (in  the  present  State  of  Wiscon- 
sin) that  they  sometimes  made  war-excursions  to  the  southwestern  parts 
inhabited  by  Spaniards  (New  IMexico),  and  that  it  required  months  to 
arrive  there.*  Simihir  excursions  and  migrations,  of  course,  took  phico 
during  tlie  early  unknown  periods  of  North  American  history.  In  the 
course  of  such  enterprises  the  property  of  the  vanquished  naturally  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  who  approi)riated  everything  that  ap- 
peared useful  or  desirable  to  them.  Tlie  consequenc-e  was  an  exchange 
by  force — if  I  may  call  it  so — which  caused  many  of  the  manufactures 
and  commodities  of  the  various  tribes  to  be  scattered  over  the  face  of 
the  country.  This  having  been  the  case,  it  is,  of  course,  inqjosslble  to 
draw  a  line  between  peaceable  bjirter  and  appropliation  by  right  of 
war,  and,  therefore,  while  employing  hereafter  frecjuently  the  terms 
"trade"  or  "exchange,"  I  interpose  that  reservation  which  is  neces- 
sitated by  the  circumstances  just  mentioned. 

Of  the  Indian  commerce  that  has  si)rung  up  since  the  arrival  of  the 
Europeaus  I  shall  say  but  little,  considering  that  this  subject  has  suffi- 
ciently been  treated  in  ethnological  and  other  works  on  North  America ; 
and  I  shall  likewise  omit  to  draw  within  the  sphere  of  my  observations 
that  interesting  trade  which  was,  and  still  is,  carried  on  between  the  tribes 
inhabiting  the  high  north  of  Asia  and  America,  where  Behring's  Strait 
separates  the  two  continents.  My  attention  is  chietly  directed  to  the 
more  ancient  manufactures  occurring  in  Indian  mounds  and  elsewhere ; 
and  the  distribution  of  these  relics  over  distant  parts  of  the  country, 
in  connection  with  the  known  or  presumed  localities  which  furnished 
the  materials  composing  them,  forms  the  basis  of  my  deductions.  Thus, 
my  essay  will  assume  an  archwological  character,  and  for  this  reason  I 
shall  confine  my  remarks  to  that  part  of  the  United  States  concerning 
whose  antiquities  we  possess  the  most  detailed  information,  namely,  the 
area  which  is  bounded  by  the  Mississippi  valley  (in  an  extended  sense), 
by  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

A  number  of  archaeologists  make  a  distinction  between  the  builders 
of  the  extensive  mural  earthworks  and  tumuli  of  North  America  and 
the  tribes  whom  the  whites  found  in  possession  of  the  country,  and 
consequently  separate  the  relics  of  the  so-called  mound-builders  from 
those  of  the  later  inhabitants.  Such  a  line  of  demarcation  certainly 
must  appear  totally  obliterated  with  regard  to  the  relations  which  I  am 
about  to  discuss,  for  which  reason  I  shall  by  no  means  adhere  to  this 
vague  division  in  my  essay,  but  shall  only  advert  to  the  former  Indian 
population  in  general. 

In  the  following  sections  I  have  first  treated  of  a  number  of  materials 
which  formed  objects  of  trade,  either  in  an  unwrought  state  or  in  the 
shape  of  implements  and  ornaments ;  and  subsequently,  in  conclusion, 
I  have  made  some  observations  tending  to  add  more  completeness  to 
my  preceding  statements. 


*•  Carver,  Travels,  «fcc.,  Harper's  reprint,  New  York,  1838,  p.  4s?. 


\. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TIJAUE   IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


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COPPER. 

Every  one  knows  that  the  region  where  Lake  Su])erior  borders  on  the 
northern  part  of  Michigan  abounds  in  copper,  which  occurs  hero  in  a 
native  state  and  in  immense  masses,  the  separation  of  which  and  rais- 
ing to  the  surface  contribute  in  no  slight  degree  to  the  difticulties  of 
the  mining  piocess.  Long  before  Europeans  penetrated  to  those  parts, 
the  aborigines  already  possessed  a  knowledge  of  this  wealth  of  copper. 
This  fact  became  known  in  1847,  at  wliich  time  the  traces  of  ancient 
aboriginal  mining  of  some  extent  were  pointed  out  in  that  district.  The 
circumstances  of  this  discovery  and  the  means  employed  by  the  natives 
for  obtaining  the  ijopper  being  now  well  known,  a  repetition  of  those 
details  hardly  would  be  in  place,  and  I  merely  refer  to  the  writings 
relating  to  this  subject.* 

Copper  was,  indeed,  the  only  metal  which  the  North  American 
tribes  employed  for  some  purposes  before  their  territories  were  colo- 
nized by  Europeans.  Traces  of  wrought  silver  have  been  found,  but 
they  are  so  exceedingly  scanty  that  the  technical  significance  of  this 
metal  hsirdly  can  be  taken  into  consideration.  Gold  was  seen  by  the 
earliest  travelers  in  small  quantities  (in  grains)  among  the  Florida  In- 
dians ;t  yet,  to  my  knowledge,  no  object  made  of  gold,  that  can  with 
certainty  be  attributeil  to  the  North  American  Indians,  has  thus  far 
been  discovered.^  The  use  of  copper,  likewise,  was  comparatively  lim- 
ited, and  cannot  have  exerted  any  marked  influence  on  the  materiid 
development  of  the  natives.  The  copper  articles  left  by  the  former  in- 
habitants are  by  no  means  abundant.  As  an  example  I  will  only 
mention  that,  during  a  sojonrn  of  thirteen  years  in  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Louis,  which  is  particularly  rich  in  tumular  structures  and  other 
tokens  of  Indian  occupancy,  I  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  a  single 
specimen  belonging  to  this  class.  Copper  implements,  such  as  axes, 
chisels,  gravers,  knives,  and  points  of  arrows  and  spears,  have  been 
found  in  the  Indian  mounds  and  in  other  places ;  but  most  of  the  ob- 
jects made  of  this  metal  served  for  ornamental  purposes,  which  circum- 
stance alone  would  go  far  to  prove  that  copper  played  but  an  indifferent 
part  in  the  industrial  advancement  of  the  race.  If  the  ancient  inhabit 
ants  had  understood  the  art  of  melting  copper,  or,  moreover,  had  na 
ture  furnished  them  with  sufficient  supplies  of  tin  ore  for  producing 

*  Sqiiier  and  Davis,  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Smithsonian  lu- 
Btitntion,  Washington,  1848.  Foster  and  Whitney,  Report  on  the  Geology  and  Topo;;;- 
raphy  of  the  Lake  Superior  Land  District,  Part  I,  Washington,  1850.  Schoolcraft, 
Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  Philadelphia,  1851.  Laphaui,  The  Antiqui- 
ties of  Wisconsin,  Washington,  1855.  Whittlesey,  Ancient  Mining  on  the  Shores  of 
Lake  Superior,  Washington,  1863.  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Prehistoric  Times,  London, 
18G5,  &c. 

t  See  :  Brinton,  Notes  on  the  Floridian  Peninsula,  Philadelphia,  1859,  Appendix  III. 

X  In  the  Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  just  published,  the  occurrence  of  gold  beads  in 
a  mound  near  Cartersville,  in  the  Etowah  valley,  Georgia,  is  recorded.  Native  gold  is 
said  to  be  found  in  the  neighborhood,  (p.  380.) 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TKADE   IN    NOUTII    AMliltlCA. 


bronze,  that  peculiar  composition  which  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
employed,  their  state  of  civilization  doubtless  would  have  been  much 
higher  when  the  whites  arrived  in  their  country.  They  lacked,  bow- 
ever,  as  far  as  investigations  hitherto  have  shown,  the  knowledge  of 
rendering  copper  serviceable  to  their  purposes  by  the  process  of  melt- 
ing, contenting  themselves  by  hammei:ing  purely  metallic  masses  of 
cop)>er  with  great  labor  into  the  shapes  of  implements  or  articles  of 
decoration.  These  masses  they  doubtless  obtained  principally,  if  not 
entirely,  from  the  copper  districts  of  Lake  Superior.*  Owing  to  the 
arborescent  or  indented  form  under  which  the  copper  occurs  in  the 
above-named  region,  nearly  all  copper  articles  of  aboriginal  origin  ex- 
hibit a  distinct  laminar  structure,  though  quite  a  considerable  degree  of 
density  has  been  imparted  to  the  metal  by  continued  hammering.  It 
must  be  admitted,  furthermore,  that  the  aborigines  had  acquired  great 
skill  in  working  the  copper  in  a  cold  state.  From  an  archaeological 
point  of  view  this  peculiar  application  of  natural  copper  is  certainly 
very  remarkable,  and,  therefore,  has  often  been  cited,  both  by  American 
and  European  writers.  To  the  native  population,  however,  the  com- 
paratively sparing  use  of  copper  cannot  have  atlbrded  great  material 
aid,  and  its  chief  importance  doubtless  consisted  in  the  promotion  of 
intercourse  among  the  various  tribes. 

The  first  travelers  who  visited  North  America  saw  copper  ornaments 
and  other  objects  made  of  this  metal  in  the  possession  of  the  natives, 
and  very  scrupulously  mention  this  fact  in  their  accounts,  while  they 
often  leave  matters  of  greater  importance  entirely  unnoticed.  This  can- 
not surprise  us,  considering  that  the  first  dis(!0verers  were  possessed  of 
an  immoderate  greediness  for  precious  metals,  and  therefore  also  paid 
particular  attention  to  those  of  less  value.  The  Florentine  navigator, 
Giovanni  Verazzano,  who  sailed  in  1524,  by  order  of  Francis  the  First 
of  France,  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America  for  purposes  of 
discovery,  noticed,  as  he  states  in  his  letter  to  the  French  king,  on  the 
persons  of  the  natives  pieces  of  wrought  copper,  "which  they  esteemed 
more  than  gold."  IMany  of  them  wore  copper  ear-rings.t  In  the  nar- 
rative which  the  anonymous  Portuguese  nobleman,  called  the  Knight  of 
Elvas,  has  left  of  De  Soto's  ill-fated  expedition  (lo;j9-'43)  it  is  stated 
that  the  Spaniards  saw,  in  the  province  of  Cutifachiqui,  some  copper  axes, 
or  chopping-knives,  which  apparently  contained  an  admixture  of  gold. 
The  Indians  pointed  to  the  province  of  Chisca  as  the  country  where 
the  people  were  familiar  with  the  process  of  melting  copper  or  another 


*  Some  of  the  natives  of  the  northerniuost  part  of  the  United  States,  lately  pur- 
chased from  Russia,  worked  copper  before  the  European  occupation.  Their  industry 
was,  of  course,  entirely  independent  of  that  here  under  consideration.  (See,  for  in- 
stance. Von  Wrangell,  liussiHvhe  Bmtzungen  an  der  NordwcatkUste  von  Amertka,  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1839.) 

tThe  Voyage  of  John  do  Verazzano,  in  Collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety, Second  Series,  Vol.  I,  Now  York,  1841,  pp.  47  and  50, 


A. 

Peruvians 
►eeu  much 
ked,  how- 
wledge  of 
s  of  melt- 
masses  of 
irticles  of 
lly,  if  not 
Dg  to  the 
irs  iu  the 
origin  ex- 
degree  of 
sriug.    It 
red  great 
Bological 
certainly 
American 
the  com- 
material 
aotion  of 

uainents 
natives, 
jile  they 
'his  can- 
essed  of 
Iso  paid 
vigator, 
le  First 
•OSes  of 

on  the 
teemed 
he  nar- 
light  of 

stated 

r  axes, 

■  gold. 

where 
nother 

3ly  pur- 

idustry 

for  iu- 

Petera- 

cal  So- 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TKADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


5 


^ 


metal  of  a  li;^'hter  color  and  inferior  hardness.*  It  i>.  very  natural  that 
these  gold-seeking  adventurers  should  have  anticipateil  everywhere 
traces  of  that  valuable  metal ;  and  concerning  the  statements  of  the 
Indians  in  relation  to  the  melting,  it  is  well  known  how  apt  the  crafty 
natives  always  were  to  regulate  their  answers  according  to  the  wishes 
of  the  inquirers.  Yet,  i.otwithstanding  these  improbabilities,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  natives  of  the  present  Scmthern  States  used  imple- 
ments of  copper  some  centuries  ago.  IiuUhmI,  I  have  seen  in  the  col- 
lection of  Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  copper  articles  of  tlie 
above  description,  obtained  in  the  State  of  (leorgia.  When  Henry 
Hudson  discovere^l,  in  1009,  the  niagnillcent  river  that  bears  his  name, 
he  noticed  among  the  Indians  of  that  region  pipes  and  ornaments  made 
of  copper.  "They  had  red  coi)per  tobacco-pipes,  and  other  things  of 
copper  they  did  wear  about  their  necks."  llobert  Juet,  who  served  un- 
der Hudson  as  mate  in  the  Half-Moon,  relates  these  details  in  the  jour- 
nal he  has  lelt  behind.!  Additional  statements  of  similar  purport 
might  be  cited  from  the  early  relations  eoru-erning  the  discovery  of 
North  America. 

"While  Messrs.  S(]uier  and  Davis  were  engaged,  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  in  surveying  the  earthworks  of  t!ie  ^li.ssissippi  valley,  more 
especially  those  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  they  f(mnd  in  the  sepulchral  and 
so-called  sacrificial  mounds  a  number  of  copper  objects,  which  they  have 
described  and  figured  in  the  work  containing  the  results  of  their  investi- 
gations.! They  also  met  small  pieces  of  the  unwrought  natural  metal 
in  some  of  the  mounds.  The  copper  specimens  obtained  during  this  sur- 
vey were  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Davis,  one  of  the  explorers, 
and  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  examine  them.  At  present  they  form  a 
part  of  the  lUackmore  Museum,  at  Salisbury,  England,  to  which  insti- 
tute Dr.  Davis  sold  his  valuable  collection.  They  are  either  implements, 
such  as  axes,  chisels,  and  gravers;  or  bracelets,  beads,  and  otlier  probably 
ornamental  objects,  exhibiting  quite  peculiar  forms,  which  were,  perhaps, 
owing  to  the  singular  methods  employed  iu  fashioning  the  copper  into 
definite  shapes.  The  axes  resemble  the  flat  celts  of  the  European  bronze 
period,  and  doubtless  were  fastened  in  handles  like  the  latter.  Some 
of  the  bracelets  of  the  better  class  are  of  very  good  worknumship,  the 
simple  rods  which  form  them  being  well  rounded  and  smoothed,  and 
bent  into  a  regular  circle  until  their  ends  meet.  I  have  seen  quite  simi- 
lar bronze  bracelets  in  European  collections.  The  objects  just  described 
obviously  have  been  fashioned  by  hammering ;  others,  however,  con- 
sisting of  hammered  copper  sheet,  received  th^-'r  final  shape  hy  prc\s,suf(. 
To  these  belong  certain  circular  concavo-convex  discs,  from  one  andoue- 

•  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernaudo  do  Soto  in  the  Conquest  of  Florida,  as  told 
by  a  Knight  of  Elvas,  and  in  a  Relation  by  Luys  Hernandez  de  Biedma,  Factor  of 
the  Expedition.    Translated  by  Buckingham  Smith.    New  York,  iSCG,  p.  72. 

tJournal  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Half-Moon,  in  Collections  of  the  Now  York  Historical 
Society,  Second  Series,  Vol.  I,  1841,  p.  323. 

t  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  pp.  19G-207. 


6 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN    NOUTII    AMERICA. 


half  inches  to  two  inches  in  dininetcr,  whicli  lune  been  likened  to  the 
bosses  observed  on  harnesses.  Concerning  their  use,  nothing  is  defin- 
itely known,  but  it  is  presumed  that  they  were  destined  for  purposes  of 
ornament.  The  manipulation  of  pressure  was  likewise  employed  in  mak- 
ing smaller  articles  of  decoration  resembling  the  convex  metal  buttons 
still  seen  on  the  clothes  of  the  peasantry  of  Germany  and  other  Euro- 
])ean  countries.  However,  in  minutely  describing  these  remarkable 
products  of  aboriginal  art,  I  would  merely  repeat  what  already  has 
been  stated,  detailed  accounts  being  given  in  the  well-known  work  of 
Blossrs.  Squier  aad  Davis. 

Although  the  fire  on  the  hearths  or  altars  now  inclosed  by  tlie  sacri- 
ficial mounds*  was  sometimes  sufficiently  strong  to  melt  the  deposited 
copper  articles,  it  does  seem  that  this  proceeding  induced  the  ancient 
inhabitants  to  avail  themselves  of  fire  in  working  copper ;  they  persisted 
in  the  tedious  i^ractice  of  hammering.  Yet  one  copper  axe,  evidently 
cast,  and  resembling  those  taken  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio,  has  been 
ploughed  up  near  Auburn,  in  Cayuga  County,  in  the  State  of  New  York.t 
This  specimen,  which  bears  no  traces  of  use,  may  date  from  the  earlier 
times  of  European  colonization.  It  certainly  would  be  wrong  to  place 
much  stress  on  such  an  isolated  case.  The  Indians,  moreover,  learned 
very  soon  from  the  whites  the  art  of  casting  metals.  For  this  we  have 
the  authority  of  Roger  Williams,  who  makes  the  following  statement  in 
reference  to  the  New  England  Indians  ;  '■'•They  have  an  excellent  Art  to 
cast  our  Pewter  and  Brassc  into  very  neatc  and  artificiall  Pqies.'''1(. 

In  the  Lake  Superior  district,  resorted  to  by  the  aboriginal  miners, 
there  have  been  found,  besides  many  grooved  stone  hammers  (sometimes 
of  very  large  size)  and  rude  wooden  tools,  vaiious  copper  implements, 
such  as  chisels,  gads,  &c.,  and  some  spear-heads  in  which,  in  lieu  of  a 
socket,  the  flat  sides  at  the  lower  end  are  partly  bent  over,§  a  feature 
also  peculiar  to  certain  European  bronze  celts,  which,  on  this  account, 
"re  denominated  "winged"  celts. 

The  copper-lands  of  iJs'orthern  Michigan,  it  has  been  stated,  were 
visited  by  the  aborigines  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  copper  at  a  period 
anteceding  the  arrival  of  the  whites.  It  is  probable  that  small  bands  of 
various  northern  tribes  made  periodical  excursions  to  thatlocality,  return- 
ing to  their  homes  when  they  had  supplied  themselves  with  sufficient  quan- 
tities of  the  much-desired  metal.  The  indications  of  permanent  settle- 
ments, namely,  burial-places,  defensive  works,  traces  of  cultivation  and, 

*For  a  precise  dcsciiptiou  of  the  remarkable  stratified  uiouuds  denomiuated  "sacri- 
ficial," I  must  refer  to  tbo  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  Burned 
human  bones  being  often  discovered  in  them  in  connection  with  manufactured  objects, 
Sir  John  Lubbock  suggests  that  these  mounds  are  of  a  sepulchral  rather  than  a  sacri- 
ficial character,    (Prehistoric  Times,  first  ed.,  p.  219,  «fec.) 

t  Squier,  Aboriginal  Monuments  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Washington,  1849,  p.  78. 

t  Roger  Williams,  A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America ;  Providence,  1827,  p.  55.  (Re- 
print of  the  London  edition  of  1643.) 

ij  Whittlesey,  Ancient  Mining,  &3. 


O'A. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


med  to  the 
Dg  is  ilefin- 
purposes  of 
^'ed  in  mak- 
l:al  buttooH 
ther  Enro- 
remarkablo 
Iready  lias 
;vn  work  of 

'  tlie  sacri- 
deposited 
lie  aucient 
y  persisted 
,  evidently 
,  has  been 
rew  York.t 
the  earlier 
g  to  i)laeo 
?r,  learned 
is  we  have 
itenieut  in 
'cnt  Art  to 

"I 

il  miners, 

lometiiues 

plemeuts, 

lieu  of  a 
a  feature 

account, 

:ed,  were 
a  period 
bands  of 
y,  return- 
Biitquan- 
it  settle- 
tiou  and, 

ed  "sacri- 
Burned 
d  objects, 
m  a  sacri- 

9,  p.  78. 
55.  (Ro- 


dwellings,  &c.,  are  wanting,  and  the  small  number  of  chaseable  animals, 
indeed,  offered  but  little  inducement  to  a  protracted  sojourn.  The  ques- 
tion, at  what  time  the  natives  ceased  to  resort  to  the  mines,  has  been 
answered  in  various  ways.  Mr.  Whittlesey  is  of  opinion  that  from  five 
to  six  hundred  years  may  have  elapsed  since  that  time,  basing  his  argu- 
ment on  the  growth  of  trees  that  have  sprung  up  in  the  rubbish  thrown 
out  from  the  mines ;  Mr.  Lapham,  or«  tVc  other  hand,  believes  in  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  aboriginal  mining  operations  to  more  recent  periods,  and 
thinks  they  were  carried  on  by  the  progenitors  of  the  Indians  still  in- 
habiting the  neighboring  parts,  althougli  they  possess  no  traditions 
relative  to  such  labors.  Probably  as  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  the  French  of  Canada  entertained  with  those  tribes  a 
trade  that  provided  the  latter  with  iron  tools,  and  the  ornaments  and 
trinkets  so  much  coveted  by  the  red  race.  Thus,  the  inducements  to 
obtain  copper  ceased,  and  the  practice  of  procuring  it  being  once  dis 
continued,  a  few  centuries  may  have  sufficed  to  efface  the  tradition  from 
the  memory  of  the  succeeding  generations.  Yet,  like  many  other  points 
of  North  American  archseologj',  this  matter  is  still  involved  in  obscu- 
rity, and  it  would  be  hazardous,  at  present,  to  pronounce  any  decided 
opinion  on  the  subject.* 

The  occurrence  of  native  copper  in  the  United  States  is  not  confined 
to  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  As  I  am  informed  by  Professor  James 
D.  Dana,  it  is  also  met,  in  pieces  of  several  pounds'  weight,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Connecticut  river,  and  likewise,  in  smaller  pieces,  in  the  State 
of  New  Jersey,  probably  originating  in  both  cases  from  the  rod  sand- 
stone formation.  Near  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  a  mass  was  found 
weighing  ninety  pounds.  Such  copper  finds  may  have  furnished  a  small 
part  of  the  metal  worked  by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants ;  its  real  source, 
however,  must  be  sought,  in  all  probability,  in  the  mining  di.stiict  of 
Lake  Superior.  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  native  copper 
there  occurring  sometimes  incloses  small  masses  of  native  silver,  a  jux- 
taposition which,  as  I  believe,  is  not  to  be  ob.served  at  any  other  place 
in  the  United  States;  and  just  such  pieces  in  which  the  two  natural 
metals  are  combined  have  been  taken  from  a  few  of  the  tumuli  of 
Ohio. 

Though  copper  articles  of  Indian  origin  are  comparatively  scarce  in 

*  The  ludians  cortaiuly  are  a  forgetful  race.  The  traveler  Stephens,  who  has  exam- 
ined and  described  the  grand  ruins  of  ancient  buildings  in  Yucatan  and  the  neighboring 
states,  maintains — and  I  believe  on  good  grounds — that  these  erections,  at  least  in 
part,  are  the  work  of  the  same  Indian  ^lopulatious  with  whom  the  conquistadores 
(Hernandez  de  Cordova,  Grijalva,  Cort<5s)  were  brought  into  contact  during  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  present  descendants  of  the  builders  of  those  magniiiceut  works 
Lave  preserved  no  recollections  of  their  more  advanced  ancestors.  Whenever  Stephens 
asked  them  concerning  the  origin  of  the  buildings,  their  answer  was,  they  hail  been 
erected  by  the  antiguoa;  but  they  could  not  explain  their  destination ;  they  were  un- 
acquainted with  the  meaning  of  the  statues  and  fresco  paintings,  and  manifested  in 
general  a  total  ignorance  of  all  that  related  to  their  former  history. 


8 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


the  United  States,*  the  field  of  their  distribution,  nevertheless,  is  very 
wide,  extending  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  States,  and  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  to  the  Mississippi,  and,  perhaps,  some  distance  beyond 
that  river.  Taking  it  for  granted,  as  we  may  do,  that  the  northern  part  of 
Michigan  is  the  point  from  which  the  metal  was  spread  over  that  area, 
the  trafiQc  in  copper  presents  itself  as  very  extensive  as  far  as  distance 
is  concerned.  The  difficulties  connected  with  the  labor  of  obtaining  this 
metal  doubtless  rendered  it  a  valuable  object,  perhaps  no  less  esteemed 
than  bronze  in  Europe,  when  the  introduction  of  that  composition  was 
yet  of  recent  date.  The  copper  probably  was  bartered  in  the  shape  of 
raw  material.  Small  pieces  of  this  description,  I  have  already  stated, 
were  taken  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio,  and  larger  masses  occasionally 
have  been  met  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  works.  One  mass  weigh- 
ing twenty-three  pounds,  from  which  smaller  portions  evidently  had 
been  detached,  was  discovered  in  the  Scioto  valley,  near  Chillicothe, 
Ohio.t  Of  course,  it  is  impossible  at  present  to  demonstrate  in  what 
manner  the  copper  trade  was  carried  on,  and  we  have  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  presumption  that  the  raw  or  worked  copper  went  from  hand  to 
hand  in  exchange  for  other  productions  of  nature  or  art,  until  it  reached 
the  places  where  we  now  find  it.  Perhaps  there  were  certain  persons 
who  made  it  their  business  to  trade  in  copper.  I  must  not  omit  to  refer 
here  to  some  passages  bearing,  though  indirectly,  on  the  latter  question, 
which  are  contained  in  the  old  accounts  of  Heruando  de  Soto's  expedi- 
tion. Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  speaks  of  wandering  Indian  merchants 
{marcUamh),  who  traded  in  salt.|  The  Knight  of  Elvas  is  still  more 
explicit  OQ  this  point.  According  to  him,  the  Indians  of  the  province 
of  Cayas  obtained  salt  by  the  evaporation  of  saline  water.  The  method 
is  accurately  described.  They  exported  salt  into  other  provinces,  and 
took  in  return  skins  and  other  commodities.  Biedma,who  accompanied 
that  memorable  expedition  as  accountant,  likewise  speaks  in  various 
places  of  salt-making  among  the  Indiaus.§ 


GALENA. 

It  has  been  a  common  experience  of  discoverer's  that  the  primitive 
peoples  with  whom  they  came  in  contact  manifested,  like  children,  a  re- 
markable predilection  for  brightly-colored  and  brilliant  objects,  which, 
without  serving  for  any  definite  purpose,  were  valued  merely  on  account 
of  their  external  qualities.   The  later  North  American  Indians  exli    ited 

*  The  Smithsonian  Institution  has  been  receiving  for  joars  Indian  antiquities  from 
all  parts  of  North  America,  yet  possessed  in  1870  only  seven  copper  objects  ;  namely, 
three  spearheads,  two  small  rods,  a  semilunar  knife  with  convex  cutting  edge,  and  an 
axe  of  good  shape.  Professsor  Baird  was  kind  enough  to  send  me  photographs  and 
descriptions  of  these  articles. 

t  Ancient  Monuments,  &c.,  p.  203. 

tConqu6te  de  la  Floride,  Leide,  1731,  Vol.  II,  p.  400. 

}  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,  &c.,  p.  124.  Biedma,  pp.  152,  153, 
and  257. 


ICA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


(less,  is  very 
md  from  the 
mce  beyond 
:hern  part  of 
it  that  area, 
as  distance 
taining  this 
ss  esteemed 
)osition  was 
he  shape  of 
jady  stated, 
JccasionalJy 
nass  weigh- 
dently  had 
Chillicothe, 
ate  in  what 
ist  satisfied 
om  hand  to 
I  it  reached 
lin  persons 
mit  to  refer 
ir  question, 
to's  expedi- 
nierchants 
still  more 
e  province 
he  method 
inces,  and 
ompanied 
n  various 


primitive 
ren,  a  re- 
,  which, 
account 
jxli    ited 

iiities  from 
;  namely, 
ge,  and  an 
rapbs  and 


this  tendency  in  a  marked  degree,  and  their  predecessors,  whose  history 
is  shrouded  in  darkness,  seem  to  have  been  moved  by  similar  impulses. 
Thus  the  common  ore  of  lead,  or  galena,  was  much  prized  by  the  for- 
mer inhabitants  of  North  America,  though  there  is,  thus  far,  no  conclu- 
sive evidence  of  their  having  understood  how  to  render  it  serviceable 
by  melting.  Quite  considerable  quantities  of  this  shining  mineral 
have  been  met  in  the  mounds  of  Ohio.  On  the  hearth  of  one  of  the 
sacrificial  mounds  of  that  State,  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  discovered  a 
deposit  of  galena,  in  pieces  weighing  from  two  ounces  to  three- pounds, 
the  whole  quantity  amounting  perhaps  to  thirty  pounds.  The  sacrificial 
fire  had  not  been  strong  enough  to  convert  the  ore  into  pure  metal, 
though  some  of  the  pieces  showed  the  beginning  of  ftlsion.*  As 
stated  before,  there  is  no  definite  proof  that  the  aborigines  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  process  of  reducing  lead  from  its  ore ;  for  as  yet  no 
leaden  implements  or  ornaments  have  been  discovered  that  can  be  as- 
scribed  with  certainty  to  the  former  population.  The  peculiarly  shaped 
object  of  pure  lead  figured  on  page  209  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments," 
which  came  to  light  while  a  well  was  sunk  within  the  ditch  of  the  earth- 
work at  Circleville,  Ohio,  was  perhaps  made  by  whites,  or  by  Indians 
at  a  period  when  they  already  had  acquired  from  the  former  the  know- 
ledge of  casting  lead.  This  curious  relic  is  in  possession  of  Dr.  Davis, 
and  I  have  often  examined  it.  The  archji^ologieal  collection  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  contains  not  a  single  Indian  article  of  lead,  but 
quantities  of  galena,  which  were  taken  from  various  mounds.  Yet, 
supposing  the  Indians  had  known  the  fusibilitj'  of  galena,  the  lead  ex- 
tracted therefrom  could  not  have  afforded  them  great  advantages,  con- 
sidering th«at  its  very  nature  hardly  admitted  of  any  useful  application. 
"Too  soft  for  axes  or  knives,  too  fusible  for  vessels,  and  too  soon  tar- 
nished to  be  valuable  for  ornament,  there  was  little  inducement  for  its 
manufacture." — (Squier  and  Davis.)  However,  in  making  net-sinkers,  it 
would  have  been  preferable  to  the  flat  pebbles  notched  on  two  oi>posito 
sides,  which  the  natives  used  as  weights  for  their  nets.  Pebbles  of  this 
description  abound  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanmi  and  in  various 
other  places  of  the  United  States,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of 
rivers. 

The  frequent  occurrence  of  galena  on  the  altars  of  the  sacrilicial 
mounds  proves,  at  any  rate,  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  attributed  a 
peculiar  value  to  it,  deeming  it  worthy  to  be  offered  as  a  sacrificial 
gift.  The  pieces  of  galena  found  in  Ohio  were,  in  all  probability,  ob- 
tained in  Illinois  or  Missouri,  from  which  regions  they  were  transferred 
by  way  of  barter,  as  we  may  presume,  to  the  Ohio  valley.  No  original 
deposits  of  galena  are  known  in  greater  proximity  that  could  have 
furnished  pieces  equal  to  those  taken  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio. 


102,  153, 


"Ancient  Monuments,  pp.  149  and  209. 


10 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


OBSIDIAN. 


The  peculiar  glass-like  stouo  of  volcanic  origin,  called  obsidian,  which 
played  such  an  important  part  in  the  household  of  the  ancient  Mexi- 
cans, has  not  been  met  in  situ  within  that  large  portion  of  the  United 
States  (probably  of  North  America  in  general)  that  lies  north  of  Mexico 
and  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis, 
nevertheless,  have  found  obsidian  in  the  shape  of  points  for  arrows  and 
spears  and  cutting  implements,  though  mostly  broken,  in  five  mounds 
of  the  Scioto  valley,  in  Ohio ;  an  object  made  of  this  material  was  like- 
wise found  in  Tennessee,*  and  the  numerous  unopened  mounds  of  the 
United  States  may  inclose  many  more  articles  of  this  class.  The  cop- 
per used  by  the  Indians,  it  has  been  seen,  occurs  as  a  product  of  nature 
within  the  area  over  which  it  was  spread  by  human  agency ;  it  is  differ- 
ent, however,  with  regard  to  obsidian,  and  the  question  therefore  arises, 
from  what  region  the  builders  of  the  large  inclosures  and  tumuli  in 
Ohio  obtained  the  last-named  mineral.  Obsidian,  we  know,  is  found 
in  the  present  territory  of  the  United  States  on  the  western  side  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Captain  Bonneville  noticed,  about  forty  years  ago, 
that  the  Shoshoneesor  Snake  Indians  in  the  neighborhood  of  Snake  river 
(or  Lewis  river)  used  arrows  armed  with  points  of  obsidian,  which,  he 
adds,  abounds  in  that  viciuity.t  The  latter  fact  is  confirmed  by  Samuel 
Parker,  who  found,  some  years  later  (1835),  in  tie  volcanic  formations 
of  that  region,  "many  large  and  fine  specimens  of  pure  obsidian  or  vol- 
canic glass."J  According  to  Wyeth,  the  Shoshonees  also  employ  sharp 
obsidian  flakes  of  convenient  shape  as  knives,  which  they  sometimes 
provide  v»'ith  handles  of  wood  or  horn.  The  same  author  mentions  the 
frequent  occurreuce  of  obsidian  in  the  district  inhabited  by  the  Shosho- 
nees.§  It  is  known  that  various  tribes  in  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and 
neighboring  parts.  Apaches,  Mojaves,  and  others,  frequently  employ 
obsidian  in  the  manufacture  of  their  arrowheads. 

Mr.  John  R.  Bartlett,  from  1850  to  1853  commissioner  of  the  United 
States  for  determining  the  boundary  line  between  the  latter  and  Mexico, 
found  pieces  of  obsidian  and  fragments  of  painted  pottery  along  the 
Gila  river,  wherever  there  had  been  any  Indian  villages ;  and  also 
amoiiji'  the  ruins  of  the  Casas  grandes,  in  Chihuahua,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  Gilu  and  Salir  "ers.||  The  same  observation  has  been  made  by 
earlier  and  later  eiers.    The  natives  of  Upper  California  employ 

obsidian  extensively  for  making  arrowheads.    Mr.  Caleb  Lyon,  who 

"  Troost,  Auciert  Remains  in  Tennessee,  in :  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnologi- 
cal Society,  New  <'ork,  1845,  Vol.  I,  p.  361. 

t  Ii'viug,  Advej. tares  of  Captain  Bonneville,  New  York,  1851,  p.  255. 

t  Parker,  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Ithaca,  New  York,  1844, 
p.  98. 

§  Wyeth,  in  Schoocraft's  Indian  Tribes,  Vol.  I,  p.  213. 

II  Bartlett,  Personal  Narrative,  &c.,  New  York,  1854,  Vol.  II,  p.  50.  Compare:  Hum- 
boldt, Essai  politique  sur  la  Nouvelle-Espagno,  Paris,  1825,  Vol.  II,  p.  243,  andClavi- 
gero,  History  of  Mexico,  Philadelphia,  1817,  Vol.  I,  p.  151. 


11 

ii 
ii 

g 

ti 

vl 


!ICA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


11 


vidian,  which 
iicieut  Mexi- 
f  the  United 
th  of  Mexico 
'  and  Davis, 
'  arrows  and 
five  mounds 
ial  was  like- 
)unds  of  the 
8.    The  cop- 
ict  of  nature 
;  it  is  difler- 
efore  arises, 
d  tumuli  in 
vr,  is  found 

side  of  the 
r  years  ago. 
Snake  river 
I,  which,  he 
I  by  Samuel 

formations 
3iau  or  vol- 
iploy  sharp 

sometimes 
entions  the 
he  Shosho- 

zoua,  and 

y  employ 

he  United 
id  Mexico, 
along  the 

and  also 
s  those  of 

made  by 
ia  employ 
yon,  who 

Etbnologi- 


i'ork,  1844, 


are:  Hum- 
andClavi- 


was,  about  ten  years  ago,  among  the  Shasta  Indians  in  California,  saw 
one  of  the  tribe  engaged  in  making  arrowheads  from  obsidian  as  well 
as  from  the  glass  of  a  broken  porter-bottle.  He  describes  the  method 
of  manufacture  in  a  letter  v.liich  was  published  by  the  American  Eth- 
nological Society.*  To  this  letter  I  shall  refer  in  a  succeeding  section 
of  tliis  essay,  when  treating  of  the  division  of  labor  among  the  North 
American  Indians.  ]Mr.  Bartlett  visited,  while  in  California,  a  locality 
in  the  Napa  valley  (north  of  San  Francisco),  where  obsidian  occurs 
in  pieces  from  the  size  of  a  i)ea  to  that  of  an  ostrich  egg,  which  are 
imbedded  in  a  mass  resembling  a  coarse  mortar  of  lime,  sand,  and 
gravel.  He  found  the  surface  in  many  places  covered,  from  six  to 
twelve  inches  in  depth,  with  broken  pieces  and  small  boulders  of  this 
volcanic  substance.  The  appearance  of  these  .si)ots  reminded  him  of  a 
newly-made  macadamized  road.t 

The  most  extensive  use  of  obsidian,  however,  was  formerly  made  in 
Mexico,  before  the  empire  of  the  Aztecs  succumbed  to  the  Spanish  in- 
vaders. Old  obsidian  mines  are  still  seen  on  the  Cerro  de  Navajas,  or 
"Ilillof  Knives,"  which  is  situated  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from 
the  city  of  Mexico,  at  some  distance  from  the  Indian  town  Atotonilco  el 
Grande.  These  mines  provided  the  ancient  population  of  Mexico  with 
vast  quantities  of  the  much-prized  stone,  of  which  they  made  those  fine 
double-edged  knives,  arrow  and  spear-heads,  mirrors,  very  skilfully 
executed  masks,  and  ornaments  of  various  kinds.  Humboldt  speaks  of 
the  Hill  of  ^  ves  in  a  transient  manner;  J  for  a  precise  description  we 
are  inde  .  to  the  meritorious  English  ethnologist,  E.  L.  Tylor,  who 
visited  that  interesting  locality  in  185G,  while  traveling  through  Mexico 
in  company  with  the  late  Mr.  Christy.§  In  describing  the  mines,  Mr. 
Tylor  says :  "  Some  of  the  trachy tic  porphyry  which  forms  the  substance 
of  the  hills  had  happened  to  have  cooled,  under  suitable  conditions,  from 
the  molten  state  into  a  sort  of  slag,  or  volcanic  glass,  which  is  the  obsid- 
ian in  question ;  and,  in  places,  this  vitreous  lava,  from  one  layer  hav- 
ing flowed  over  another  which  was  already  cool,  was  regularly  stratified. 
The  mines  were  mere  wells,  not  very  deep,  with  horizontal  workings 
into  the  obsidian  where  it  was  very  good  and  in  thick  layers.  Eound 
about  were  heaps  of  fragments,  hundreds  of  tons  of  them  ;  and  it  was 
clear,  from  the  shape  of  these,  that  some  of  the  manufacturing  was  done 
on  the  spot.  There  had  been  great  numbers  of  pits  worked,  and  it  was 
from  these  minillas,  little  mines,  as  they  are  called,  that  we  first  got  an 
idea  how  important  an  element  this  obsidian  was  in  the  old  Aztec  civi- 
lization. In  excursions  made  since,  we  traveled  over  whole  districts  in 
the  plains  where  fragments  of  these  arrows  and  knives  were  to  be  found 

*  BuUetiu  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  New  York,  1H61.  Vol.  I,  p.  39. 

t  Person  al  Narrative,  Vol.  II,  p.  49. 

t  Essai  politique  sur  la  Nouvelle-Espagne,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  122. 

§  Tylor,  Anabuac:  or  Mexico  and  the  Mexicans,  Ancient  and  Mo'lein,  Lond.,  1861. 
This  volume  contains,  besides  many  facts  relating  to  the  arcbaiology  ani  ethnology  of 
Mexico,  the  best  observations  on  obsidian  I  have  found  in  any  work  on  that  country. 


12 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


literally  at  every  step,  mixed  with  morsels  of  pottery,  and  here  and 
there  a  little  clay  idol."* 

From  the  centre  of  the  State  of  Ohio  to  the  country  of  the  Sho- 
shonees,  as  well  as  to  the  Bio  Gila,  and  the  just-described  mines  in 
Mexico,  the  straight  distances  are  almost  equal,  measuring  about  seven- 
teen hundred  English  miles ;  indeed,  the  Mexican  mines  are  a  trifle 
nearer  to  Ohio  than  the  above-mentioned  districts.  It  would  be  lost 
labor,  therefore,  to  Indulge  in  speculations  from  which  of  these  locali- 
ties the  obsidian  found  in  Ohio  and  Tennessee  was  derived.  The  num- 
ber of  articles  of  this  stone  that  has  been  met  east  of  the  Mississippi 
is  so  exceedingly  small  that  its  technical  significance  hardly  deserves 
any  consideration.  Yet,  the  sole  fact  of  finding  worked  obsidian  at 
such  great  distances  from  the  nearest  places  where  it  occurs  either  in 


rl 


•  Anahuac,  p.  99.  The  following  interesting  communicatiou  was  addressed  to  nio  by 
Dr.  C.  H.  Berendt : 

"During  one  of  many  excursions  which  I  made  in  the  years  1853-'5G  around  the 
Citlaltepetl,  or  Pico  do  Orizaba  (in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz),  I  saw  an  obsidian  mine  on 
the  western  slope  of  that  mountain.  I  had  heard  of  it  from  my  friend  the  late  Mr.  C. 
Sartorius  ,who  had  visited  the  place  years  ago.  I  was  informed  that  the  Indians  of  the 
village  of  Alpatlahua  knew  the  place,  but  that  they  did  not  like  to  have  it  visited. 
Some  say  they  have  treasures  hidden  in  the  caves  of  the  neighborhood ;  while  others 
believe  that  they  have  idols  in  those  lonely  places  which  they  still  secretly  worship. 
The  cura  of  San  Juan  Coscomatepec,  who  was  of  this  latter  opinion,  gave  me  the  name 
of  a  mestizo  farmer  in  the  neighborhood  who  might  be  induced  to  show  me  the  i)lace. 
Our  party  followed  from  Coscomatepec  the  road  which  leads  to  the  rancho  Jacal  and  the 
pass  of  La  Cnchilla.  We  did  not  find  the  mestizo  at  home,  but  his  wife,  who  directed 
her  boy  to  show  us  the  cave.  Reaching  the  bridge  of  the  Jamapa  river,  we  took  a 
by-road  parting  to  the  north,  which  brought  us  to  the  village  of  Alpatlahua,  and  about 
four  miles  farther  north  to  a  branch  of  the  Jamapa  river,  which  we  crossed.  \ve  then 
left  the  road  and  proceeded  about  half  a  mile  up  the  river  through  thick  -woods,  when 
we  found  ourselves  suddenly  before  the  entrance  of  the  cave.  It  was  about  fifty  feet 
high  and  of  considerable  width,  but  obstmcted  by  fallen  rocks  and  shrubs.  Heaps  of 
obsidian  chips  of  more  than  a  man's  height  filled  the  bottom  of  the  grotto,  which  had 
apparently  no  considerable  horizontal  depth.  To  the  left  the  mine  was  seen,  an  excavation 
of  from  six  to  eight  square  yards,  the  bottom  tilled  up  with  rubbish  and  chips.  Obsidian, 
evidently,  had  not  only  been  quarried,  but  also  been  made  into  implements  at  this 
spot,  the  hitter  fact  being  proved  by  the  occurrence  of  cores,  or  nuclei,  of  all  sizes, 
from  wliich  fiakes  or  knives  had  been  detached.  We  were  not  prepared  for  digging, 
and  it  was  too  late  for  undertaking  explorations  that  day.  So  we  left,  with  the  purpose 
to  return  better  prepared  at  another  time,  hoping  to  find  some  relics  of  the  miners 
and  workmen,  and,  perhaps,  other  antiquities.  But  it  happened  that  x  never  had  an 
opportunity  to  visit  the  place  again.  Mr.  Sartorius  saw  in  this  cave  three  entrances 
walled  up  w  ilh  stone  and  mortar,  but  these  I  did  not  discover,  having,  as  stated,  no 
time  for  a  careful  examination.    Future  travelers,  I  hope,  will  be  more  successful. 

"  Mr.  Sartorious  mentioned  another  place,  likewise  in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz,  where 
obsidian  formerly  was  quarried.  This  place  is  situated  in  the  chain  of  mountains  ex- 
tending from  the  Pico  de  Orizaba  to  the  Cofre  de  Perote.  One  of  the  intervening 
mountains,  called  Xulistac,  is  distinguished  by  a  white  spot  that  can  be  seen  at  the 
distance  of  many  miles,  even  at  Vera  Cruz.  It  is  produced  by  an  outcropping  of  pumice- 
stone  resting  on  ah  immense  mass  of  obsidian  that  has  been  worked  in  various  places. 
I  know  the  mountain  well,  but  not  the  road  leading  to  it,  never  having  traveled  in  that 
direction." 


RICA. 

nd  here  and 

of  the  Sbo- 
)ed  mines  in 
about  seven- 
I  are  a  trifle 
eould  be  lost 

these  locali- 
1.  The  num- 
e  Mississippi 
dly  deserves 

obsidian  at 
urs  either  in 

•eased  to  me  by 

'5G  around  tbo 
sidian  niiue  on 
the  late  Mr.  C. 
Indians  of  the 
lave  it  visited. 
;  while  others 
jretly  worship. 
B  me  the  name 
''  me  the  place. 
[  Jacal  and  the 
,  who  directed 
er,  we  took  a 
iua,aud  about 
led.    ^v  e  then 
woods,  when 
)Out  fifty  feet 
Heaps  of 
which  had 
m  excavation 
Obsidian, 
Dents  at  this 
of  all  sizes, 
for  digging, 
the  purpose 
f  the  miners 
ever  had  an 
ee  entrances 
8  stated,  no 
cessful. 
Cruz,  where 
mntains  ex- 
intervening 
seen  at  the 
[of  pumice- 
ious  places, 
ilcd  in  that 


ANCIENT   ABORT  ilNAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


13 


bs. 


situ  or  in  consequence  of  human  agency  (as,  perhaps,  on  the  Gila),  is  in 
itself  of  importance,  for  it  furnishes  an  additional  illustration  of  the  far- 
reaching  communications  among  the  aborigines  of  North  America. 

MICA. 

Like  the  shining  galena,  mica  (commonly  called  isinglass),  was  a 
substance  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  former  inhabitants ;  but,  while 
the  first-named  mineral  apparently  fulfilled  no  definite  purpose,  being 
deemed  valuable  merely  for  its  brilliancy,  the  latter  was  often  made  into 
articles  of  ornament,  a  purpose  for  which  it  certainly  was  well  fitted  on 
account  of  its  metallic  lustre.  It  is  also  said  to  have  been  used  for 
mirrors.  Mica  is  found  in  the  tumuli  in  considerable  quantities,  some- 
times in  bushels,  and  is  often  ploughed  up  in  the  neighborhood  of  old 
earthworks.  It  occurs  in  sepulchral  mounds  as  well  as,  though  more 
rarely,  in  those  of  supposed  sacrificial  character.  In  the  former  the 
plates  of  mica  are  placed  on  the  chest  or  above  the  head  of  the  skeleton, 
and  sometimes  they  cover  it  almost  entirely.  If  I  speak  here  of  "plates 
of  mica,"  the  expression  is  to  be  taken  literally,  it  being  known 
that  this  mineral  occurs  in  some  of  the  eastern  parts  of  North  America 
in  masses  of  considerable  size,  as,  for  instance,  in  New  Hampshire, 
where  pieces  of  from  two  to  three  feet  in  diameter  have  been  observed. 

The  most  important  archaeological  finds  of  mica,  as  far  as  I  know, 
occurred  in  Ohio.    Of  some  of  them  I  will  give  here  a  brief  account. 

Mr.  Atwater  has  left  a  very  accurate  description  of  the  earthwork  at 
Circleville,  Ohio,  now  mostly  obliterated,  which  consisted  of  a  large  cir- 
cular and  adjoining  quadratic  embankment.  In  the  centre  of  the  circle 
there  arose  a  sepulchral  mound  which  contained  two  skeletons  and 
various  objects  of  art,  among  which  was  a  "  mirror"  of  mica,  about  three 
feet  long,  one  foot  and  a  half  wide,  and  one  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness. 
Atwater  found  these  so-called  mirrors  at  least  in  fifty  diflerent  places  in 
Ohio,  mostly  in  mounds.  "  They  were  common  among-  that  people,"  he 
says,  "  and  answered  very  well  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended. These  mirrors  were  very  thick,  otherwise  they  would  not  have 
reflected  the  light."*  It  has  been  doubted,  however,  whether  the  objects 
served  as  mirrors.  It  is  true,  every  one  who  has  come  in  contact  with 
the  modern  Indians  knows  how  eager  they  are,  prompted  by  vanity,  to 
obtain  from  the  traders  small  looking-glasses,  which  they  often  carry 
about  their  persons  in  order  to  contemplate  their  features,  or  to  have 
them  on  hand  when  they  are  about  to  paint  their  faces,  or  to  eradicate 
their  scanty  growth  of  beard.  Yet,  after  all,  1  am  inclinded  to  believe 
that  Atwater's  so-called  mirrors  were  nothing  else  but  those  largo  plates 
of  mica,  probably  of  symbolic  character  (as  will  be  seen),  which  have 
frequently  been  met  since  the  publication  of  his  account. 

In  the  year  1828,  during  the  digging  of  a  canal  near  Newark,  Ohio, 
one  of  the  low  mounds  frequent  in  that  neighborhood  was  removed.    It 

•Atwater,  in:  Archa3ologica  Americana,  Worcester,  1820,  Vol.  I,  pp.  173,225. 


14 


ANCIENT  ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


contained  fourteen  skeletons  in  a  bigli  state  of  decomposition,  wbicb 
were  covered  with  a  regular  la3'er  of  mica  plates.  The  latter  were  from 
eight  to  ten  inches  in  length,  four  or  five  inches  wide,  and  from  half  an 
inch  to  an  inch  in  thickness.  The  quantity  of  mica  thrown  uj)  from  this 
raound  amounted  to  fifteen  or  twenty  bushels.* 

During  their  archaeological  investigations,  ^Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis 
frequently  found  mica  in  the  mounds,  and  they  have  given  precise  ac- 
counts of  their  discoveries.  In  one  of  the  sacrificial  mounds  near  Chilli- 
cotho,  Ohio,  they  came  upon  a  layer  of  round  plates  of  silvery  mica, 
measuring  from  ten  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter,  which  overlapped  each 
other  like  the  tiles  or  slates  on  a  roof,  and  were  deposited  in  the  shape 
of  a  half-moon.  The  excavation  laid  bare  more  than  one-half  of  this 
crescent,  which  could  not  have  measured  less  than  twenty  feet  from 
horn  to  horn.  The  greatest  width  (in  the  middle)  was  five  feet.  It  has 
been  thought  that  the  shape  of  this  curious  deposit  of  mica  might  be 
suggestive  of  the  religious  views  of  the  builders  of  the  mound,  and 
imply  a  tendency  to  moon- worship.!  Another  mound  not  far  from  the 
preceding  one — both  belonged  to  a  group  of  twenty-three  within  an  in- 
closure — likewise  contained  mica.f  The  circular  cavity  of  the  altar  in 
this  mound  was  filled  with  fine  ashes  intermixed  with  fragments  of  clay 
vessels  and  some  small  convex  copper  discs.  Over  these  contents  of 
the  basin  a  layer  of  mica  sheets,  overlapping  each  other,  was  spread 
like  a  cover,  which,  again,  served  as  the  basis  for  a  heap  of  burned 
human  bones,  probably  belonging  to  a  single  person.§ 

The  authors  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments''  also  found  occasionally  in 
the  mounds  ornaments  made  of  thin  sheets  of  mica,  cut  out  very  neatly 
and  with  great  regularity  in  the  shapes  of  scrolls,  oval  plates,  and  discs, 
and  pierced  with  small  holes  for  suspension  or  attachment.  They 
doubtless  were  intended  to  embellish  the  dress  of  persons  of  distinction. || 
Dr.  Davis  has  some  of  these  ornaments  which,  fastened  on  black  vel- 
vet, almost  might  be  taken  for  silver  objects,  the  mica  of  which  they 
are  made  being  of  the  perfectly  opaque  kind.  Ornamental  plates  of 
mica,  further,  were  met  in  the  large  Grave- Creek  Mound,  situated 
twelve  miles  below  Wheeling,  in  Western  Virginia.  This  burial- 
mound,  which  is  one  of  the  highest  in  the  United  States — it  is  seventy 
feet  high — was  opened  in  1838.  Near  one  of  the  skeletons,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  rather  irregularly- shaped  thin  sheets  of  mica,  from  one 
inch  and  a  half  to  two  inches  in  size,  were  collected.  They  were  all 
"provided  with  two  or  more  holes  for  stringing  them  together,  and  had 
evidently  formed  a  scarf  or  some  other  article  of  personal  adornment.tl 

*  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  72. 
t  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  154. 

t  This  earthwork,  called  "  Mound  City  "  by  Squier  and  Davis,  •will  be  described  in  a  sub- 
sequent section. 
$  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  145. 

II  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  l.^S ;  representations  on  p.  240. 
HSchoolcraft,  in:  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  Vol.  I,  p.  399. 


RICA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


15 


jsition,  which 

ter  were  from 

from  half  an 

[1  up  from  this 

er  and  Davis 
3n  precise  ac- 
Is  uear  Chilli- 
silvery  mica, 
irlapped  each 
in  the  shape 
e-half  of  this 
ity  feet  from 
I  feet.  It  has 
ica  might  be 
mound,  and 
far  from  the 
within  an  in- 
■  the  altar  in 
uents  of  clay 
3  contents  of 
,  was  spread 
ip  of  burned 

'asionally  in 
;  very  neatly 
s,  and  discs, 
nent.    They 
distinction.  1 1 
n  black  vel- 
which  they 
al  plates  of 
id,  situated 
his    burial- 
is  seventy 
S  one  hun- 
a,  from  one 
ey  were  all 
T,  and  had 
ornment.ty 


bedinasub- 


Tho  preceding  quotations,  to  which  others  of  similar  purport  might 
be  added,  will  sullico  to  sliow  how  much  mica  was  valued  by  the 
former  inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  valley ;  indeed,  the  frequent  and 
peculiar  occurrence  of  this  mineral  in  the  mounds  almost  might  justify 
the  conjecture  that  it  was  believed  to  be  invested  with  some  mysterious 
significance,  and  played  a  part  in  the  superstitious  rites  of  the  abori- 
gines. Mica  has  been  found  in  a  worked  and  raw  state  in  districts 
where  it  is  not  furnished  by  nature,  and  therefore  nmy  be  safely  classed 
among  the  aboriginal  articles  of  exchange.  In  the  State  of  Ohio,  to 
which  my  observations  chiefly  refer,  mica  is  not  found  in  situ,  and  it  is 
presumed  that  the  mineral  discovered  in  that  State  was  derived  from 
the  southern  spurs  of  the  Alleghany  IMountaius.  Yet,  it  may  have 
been  brought  from  greater  distances,  and  from  various  points,  to  its 
present  places  of  occurrence. 

SLATE. 

Various  kinds  of  ancient  Indian  stone  manufactures  frequently  con- 
sist  of  a  greenish  slate,  which  is  often  marked  with  darker  parallel  oi 
concentric  stripes  or  bauds,  giving  the  objects  made  of  it  a  very  pretty 
appearance.  This  slate  is  not  very  hard,  but  of  close  grain  and  therefore 
easily  worked  and  polished.  The  objects  made  of  this  stone,  which  occur 
on  the  surface  as  well  as  in  mouuds,  are  generally  executed  with  great 
care  and  regularity,  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  destination  of 
some  of  them  is  not  quite  well  known.  Among  the  latter  are  certain 
straight  tubes  of  cylindrical  and  other  shapes  and  various  lengths, 
which  sometimes  terminate  in  a  kind  of  "mouth-piece."  While  the 
smaller  ones,  which  often  measure  only  a  few  inches,  have  been  thought 
to  represent  articles  of  ornament,  or  amulets,  a  difl'erent  purpose  has 
been  ascribed  to  the  longer  specimens.  Schoolcraft  appears  to  consider 
these  latter  as  telescopic  instruments  which  the  ancient  inhabitants 
used  for  observing  the  stars.  This  view,  1  think,  has  Ixen  generally  re- 
jected. It  is  far  more  probable  that  these  tubes,  iu  part  at  least,  were 
implements  of  the  sorcerers  or  medicine-men,  who  employed  them  iu 
their  pretended  cures  of  diseases.  They  applied  one  end  of  the  tube  to 
the  surering  part  of  the  patient  and  sucked  at  the  other  end,  in  order 
to  draw  out,  as  it  were,  the  morbid  matter,  which  they  afterwards 
feigned  to  eject  with  many  gesticulations  and  contortions  of  the  body. 
CoBcal  calls  the  tubes  used  by  the  medicine-men  of  the  Florida  Indians 
a  kind  of  shepherd's  flute  {une  espeee  de  chalumemi)  and  the  character  of 
some  of  the  stone  implements  in  question  that  have  been  found  cer- 
tainly justifies  this  comparison.*  Kohl  saw,  as  late  as  1855,  one  of  the 
above-mentioned  cures  performed  among  the  Ojibways  of  Lake  Supe- 


1. 1,  p.  399. 


*  Coreal,  Voyages  aux  ludes  Occidentales,  Amsterdam,  \72'2,  Vol.  I,  p.  39. 


16 


ANCIENT    ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


rior;  in  this  instance,  Uowgvcm',  the  tube  used  by  tbo  niodicineuian  was 
a  smootb  hollow  bone,  probably  of  the  brant-goose.* 

A  far  more  numerous  class  of  articles  often  made  of  the  greenish 
striped  slate  is  represented  by  small,  variously-shaped  tablets  of  great 
regularity  and  finish,  which  are  pierced  in  the  middle  with  one,  two,  or 
more  round  holes.  The  most  frequent  shape  of  these  tablets  is  illus- 
trated by  the  upper  figure  on  Plate  28  in  Vol.  1  of  Schoolcraft's  work  on 
the  Indian  tribes.  It  is  that  of  a  rectangle  with  sides  exhibiting  a  slight 
outward  curve.  The  full-size  drawing  of  this  rather  large  specimen  is 
done  in  colors,  and  thus  affords  the  advantage  of  sliowing  the  greenish 
tint  and  the  markings  of  the  stone.  Other  tablets  are  lozenge-shaped, 
quadratic  with  inwardly-curved  sides,  oval,  cruciform,  &c.t  Most  of 
them  have  two  perforations,  though  specimens  with  only  one  are  not 
scarce,  while  those  that  have  more  than  two  holes  are  of  less  frequent 
occurrence.  The  holes  are  drilled  either  from  one  side  or  from  both, 
and,  accordingly,  of  conical  or  bi-conical  shape.  They  seldom  have 
more  than  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  narrowest  part. 
Concerning  the  destination  of  the  tablets  nothing  is  definitely  known. 
At  first  sight  one  might  be  inclined  to  consider  them  as  objects  of  orna- 
ment or  as  badges  of  distinction ;  but  this  view  is  not  corroborated  by 
the  appearance  of  the  perforations,  which  exhibit  no  traces  of  the  wear 
produced  by  continued  suspension,  being,  on  the  contrary,  in  most  cases 
as  perfect  as  if  they  liad  but  lately  been  drilled.  The  classification  of 
the  tablets  as  "  gorgets,"  therefore,  may  be  regarded  as  erroneous. 
Schoolcraft  calls  them  implements  for  twine-making.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  they  were  used  in  condensing  and  rounding  bow-strings  by 
drawing  the  wet  strips  of  hide,  or  the  sinews  employed  for  that  pur- 
pose, through  the  round  perforations.  The  diameter  of  the  latter,  it  is 
true,  corresponds  to  the  thickness  of  an  ordinary  Indian  bow-string ; 
but  also  in  this  case  the  usually  unworn  state  of  the  holes  rather  speaks 
against  this  supposition. 

Being  desirous  to  learn  whether  Mr.  George  Catlin  had  seen,  during 
his  first  sojourn  among  the  western  tribes,  anything  like  those  tablets 
used  by  them  in  making  bow-strings,  I  availed  myself  of  that  gentle- 
man's return  to  the  United  States,  and  asked  him  by  letter,  among  other 
mutters,  for  information  concerning  this  subject.  He  replied  (Decem- 
ber 2i,  1871)  as  follows  : 

"  Of  the  tablets  you  speak  of,  I  have  seen  several,  but  the  holes  were 
much  larger  than  those  you  describe.    Those  that  I  have  seen  were 

*  Kohl,  KitscLi-Gami,  oder  Erziihlungea  vom  Obern  See,  Bremen,  1856,  Vol.  I,  p. 
118.  Compare :  Venegas,  History  of  California,  Loudon,  1759,  Vol.  I,  p.  97,  and  Baegert's 
Account  of  the  Ahorigiual  luhabitants  of  the  Californian  Peninsula,  Smithsonian  Re- 
port for  1864,  p.  386.  Drawings  of  the  stone  tubes  are  given  on  pp.  224-27  of  the 
"Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

t  The  various  shapes  of  these  tablets,  and  of  other"  perforated  objects,  not  exactly 
tablets,  but  probably  intended  for  the  same  purpose,  are  represented  on  pages  236  and 
237  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments." 


5 


] 


CA. 
leman  was 

10  grecniHh 

its  of  great 

>ue,  two,  or 

lots  is  illus- 

rt's  work  on 

ing  a  slight 

^pccinien  is 

10  greenish 

ige-shaped, 

\     Most  of 

ne  are  not 

3S  frequent 

from  both, 

Jdoin  have 

)we8t  part. 

oly  known. 

cts  of  orna- 

(borated  by 

)f  the  wear 

most  cases 

nfication  of 

[  erroneous. 

been  sug- 

strings  by 

that  pur- 

atter,  it  is 

ow-string; 

her  speaks 

en,  during 
se  tablets 
at  gentle- 
on  g  other 
1  (Decem- 

loles  were 
seen  were 

),  Vol.  I,  p. 
d  Baegert's 
soniaii  Be- 
*-27  of  the 

lot  exactly 
\ea  236  and 


ANCIENT   AUORIGINAL   TRADE    IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


17 


used  by  the  Indians  for  grooving  the  shafts  of  their  arrows.  All  arrows 
of  the  primitive  Indians  are  found  with  three  grooves  from  the  arrow's 
shoulder,  at  the  fluke,  extending  to,  and  conducting  the  air  between, 
the  feathers,  to  give  them  steadiness.  These  grooves,  on  close  exam- 
ination, are  found  to  be  indented  by  pressure,  and  not  in  any  way  cut 
out ;  and  this  pressure  is  produced,  while  forcing  the  arrow,  softened 
by  steam,  through  a  hole  in  the  tablet,  with  the  incisor  of  a  bear  sot 
firmly  in  a  handle  and  projecting  over  the  rim  of  the  hole  as  the  arrow- 
shaft  is  forced  downward  through  the  tablet,  getting  compactness,  and 
on  the  surface  and  in  the  groove  a  smoothness,  which  no  cutting,  filing, 
or  scraping  can  produce.  It  would  be  useless  to  pass  the  bow-string 
through  the  tablet,  for  the  evenness  and  the  hardness  of  the  strings  are 
produced  much  more  easily  and  eftectually  by  rolling  them,  as  they  <lo, 
between  two  flat  stones  while  saturated  with  heated  glue." 

Thus,  Mr.  Catlin's  experience  is  rather  unfavorable  to  the  supposition 
that  the  pierced  stone  tablets  mentioned  by  me  were  used  in  condens- 
ing bow-strings.  Yet,  after  all,  they  probably  served  for  some  similar 
purpose,  which  may  be  clearly  defined  hereafter  by  continued  examina- 
tion and  comparison.  I  regard  them  as  implements,  and  not  as  objects 
of  ornament  or  distinction.* 

The  greenish  slate  is  frequently  the  material  of  another  numerous 
class  of  Indian  relics  of  enigmatical  chara(!ter.  I  allude  to  those  curious 
articles  bearing  a  distant  resemblance  to  a  bird,  which  are  pierced  at 
the  base  with  diagonal  holes,  evidently  for  suspension,  the  traces  of 
wear  being  distinctly  visible.  They  probably  represent  insignia  or 
amulets.  I  have  also  heard  the  suggestion  that  they  were  used  f(U' 
removing  the  husk  of  Indian  corn.t 

Of  much  rarer  occurrence  than  the  articles  thus  far  enumerated  in  this 
section  are  perforated  implements  somewhat  resembling  an  axe  with 
two  cutting  edges,  or,  more  often,  a  double  pickaxe,  which,  doubtless, 
were  provided  with  handles  and  worn  as  badges  of  distinction  by  the 
superiors.^  These  objects  are  for  the  most  part  elegantly  shai)ed,  but 
ot  small  size,  and  cannot  have  been  applied  to  any  practical  use,  their 
material,  moreover,  consisting  generally  of  sott  stone,  more  juirticularly 
of  the  greenish  slate  in  question.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  they  ful- 
filled a  symbolical  purpose,  and  were  employed  in  the  manner  just  men- 
tioned. 


*Tlio  Smithsoniiin  Roport  for  1870,  which  has  appeared  since  the  above  was  written, 
contains,  among  other  ethnological  matter,  an  account  of  an  exploration  of  uionnds  in 
Kentucky,  by  Mr.  Sidney  S.  Lyon.  Among  the  contents  of  one  of  thti  mounds  was  "a 
black  stone  with  holes  through  it."  /  have  seen  this  kind  of  an  instrument,  says  Mr. 
Lyon,  used  by  the  Pah-  Vfes  of  Southeastern  Xevada,  for  giving  uniform  size  to  their  bow-strings. 
(p.  404.) 

t  A  group  of  these  singular  objects  is  represented  on  page  239  of  the  "  Ancient  Muna- 
ments." 

t  Schoolcraft  gives  on  Plato  11,  Vol.  I,  of  his  large  work,  two  colored  half-size  repre- 
sentations of  such  implements,  which  he  calls  "  maces." 


2  AA 


18 


ANCIKNT    AMOKIOINAF.    THADK    IN    NOKTH    AMKUICA. 


niiviiiK  now  brioJly  (li'scrihcd  tlu^  most  important  clnsscs  of  rolics 
made  of  the  striju'd  sliito,  I  [niss  oror  to  tlic  piiMcipul  point  of  inquiry, 
namely,  the  cxttMit  of  tlioir  ocjcurrcnce.  1  linow  from  personal  expe- 
rience that  they  are  found  from  tin;  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Mi88iMsii>pi 
river,  a  distance  about  eqiud  to  one-third  of  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  i»ossil)le  that  they  are  scattered  over  a  far 
greater  area.  In  181S,  when  Squier  and  Davis  published  their  work,  in 
which  aborijjinal  numufactures  were  for  the  llrst  time  ac<*urately  described, 
they  could  not  specify  the  locality  from  which  the  oft-mentioned  slate 
was  derived.  Since  that  time  {•eolo^^ical  surveys  have  been  made  in  all 
States  of  the  Union,  and  the;  i)laces  of  its  occurrence  are  no  lonj^er  un- 
known. It  appears,  I  am  infornuHl,  as  the  oldest  sedimentary  forma- 
tion, in  <piite  considerable  masses  alonj;  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  has 
been  observed  from  Khode  Island  to  t'anada.  This  slate  is  not  believed 
to  occur  in  other  parts  of  the  Union,  auil  it  may  be  presumed,  therefore, 
that  it  was  brought  from  the  Atlantic  coast-districts,  either  in  a  rough  ()r 
already  worked  condition,  to  the  more  western  regions  of  the  United 
States. 

FLINT. 


ol 

nl 

sj 
ti 
ej 
w| 


Tiie  veal  Hint  [FeKcrstcia  in  German)  which  is  found  abundantly,  in 
rounded  pieces  or  nodules  in  the  cretaceous  formations  of  the  countries 
bordering  on  the  Baltic,  of  England,  France,  &(!.,  and  which  has  played 
such  an  important  part  in  the  prehistoric  ages  of  Europe,  does  not  seem 
to  occur  within  the  United  States.  For  this  information  I  am  person- 
ally iiulebted  to  Professor  James  1).  Damv.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
parts  of  this  country  are  very  rich  in  various  kinds  of  stones  of  a  sili- 
cious  character,  which,  in  conse(iuence  of  their  hardness  and  conchoidal 
fracture,  were  well  fitted  to  replace  the  missing  variety  in  the  produc- 
tion of  chipped  implements.  The  term  "  Hint,"  therefore,  is  used  here  in  a 
rather  extensive  sense,  comprising  hornstone,  jasper,  chalcedony,  fer- 
ruginous quartz,  sweetwater  quartz,  milky  quartz,  semi-opalic  stones, 
&c.,  and  the  nunierous  transitions  from  one  quartzy  variety  into  another, 
for  which  the  science  of  mineralogy  has  no  special  denominations.  The 
common  white  quartz,  also,  I  may  remark  in  this  place,  and  the  trans- 
parent rock-crystal,  were  used  for  pointing  arrows ;  and  in  districts 
where  harder  stones  were  scarce,  even  slates  and  greenstones  served  as 
substitutes  for  them  in  the  fabrication  of  arrow  and  spearheads. 

As  in  Europe,  so  also  in  the  United  States,  places  have  been  discov- 
ered where  the  manufacture  of  flint  implements  was  carried  on.  These 
"open-air  workshops"  {atcUers  en  plein  air)  are  by  no  means  rare  in 
North  America,  and  they  begin  to  attract  considerable  attention  since 
the  successful  arch.Tological  researches  in  Europe  have  stimulated  to 
similar  pursuits  in  this  country.  As  the  North  American  tribes  all  used 
the  bow,  and  consequently  were  in  constant  need  of  arrowheads,  the 
manufacture  of  the  latter  took  place  in  many  localities,  especially  in 
such  as  furnished  the  stoi>es  most  proper  for  that  purpose.    The  Kjoek- 


[CA. 


ANCIENT   ABOUIGINAL    TKADE   IN   NOUTH    AMEKICA. 


19 


iC's  of  rt'lica 
t  of  inquiry, 
•Hoiial  expo- 

Mi((8iHsip{)i 

bread th  of 
il  over  a  far 
icir  work,  in 
lyclescrihed,' 
tioned  Hlato 

made  in  all 
•  lon;4('r  un- 
itary fornia- 
st,  and  has 
not  believed 
d,  therefore, 
n  a  rough  or 

the  United 


mdantly,  in 
le  countries 
I  has  i)layed 
)ea  not  seem 
am  person- 
land,  manj' 
es  of  a  sili- 
conchoidal 
he  produc- 
ed here  in  a 
edony,  fer- 
|«lic  stones, 
to  another, 
Itions.    The 
the  trans- 
n  districts 
served  as 
ds. 

L»en  discov- 

II.    These 

|ns  rare  in 

ition  since 

huhited  to 

?s  all  nse<l 

leads,  the 

|[)ecially  in 

?he  Kjoek- 


I 


keiimocfhllnf/  at  Keypnrt,  New  Jersey,  described  by  me  in  the  Smithson- 
ian  IJeport  lor  ISdl,  evidently  was  one  of  the  i)la«H»s  where  Hint  iniple- 
ments  were  made  by  the  natives.  I  not  only  saw  there  anion}?  the  shell- 
heaps  countless  chips  of  tlint,  but  found  also  a  number  of  uiithiish(><l 
arrowheads,  whi<*li  luul  been  thrown  aside  on  account  of  a  wronj;  crack 
or  some  other  defect  in  the  stone.  The  ne<!essary  material  was  here  fur- 
nished on  llie  spot,  in  the  shape  of  innumerable  water-worn  pebbles  of 
silicioiis  character,  which  lie  intermixed  with  the  shells.  Anion*,'  the  un- 
hnished  arrowheads  picked  up  by  me  at  thisphu'c  tlu'ie  are  some  which 
exhibit  a  part  of  the  smooth  wat«'r-worn  surfa(;e  of  the  jiebblc  from 
which  they  were  iiuule. 

In  th;'  middle  part  of  the  ^Mississippi  valley,  where  I  lived  many 
years,  and  had  occasion  to  make  various  ol)servations,  the  Indians  were 
amply  provided  by  nature  with  the  material  employed  in  the  fabrication 
of  spear  and  arrowheads.  The  prevailing  rock  of  those  regions  is  a 
limestone  in  which  several  of  the  varieties  of  the  qimrtz  family  are 
found,  either  in  layers  or  in  irregular  concretions.  In  the  blulf  forma- 
tions of  the  "American  IJottom"  in  Illinois,  ft)r  instance,  I  have  traced 
myself  layers  of  hornstone,  chalcedony,  &c.,  for  the  distance  of  miles. 
In  the  districts  under  notice,  moreover,  the  surface  is  covered  hen;  and 
there  with  many  siliclous  pebbles  and  boulders,  which  furnished  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  avadable  material. 

An  important  locality  to  which  the  .aborigines  resorted,  perhaps  from 
great  distances,  for  quarrying  flint,  is  in  Ohio,  on  the  line  of  a  calcareu- 
silicious  deposit,  called  "Flint  llidge,"  which  extends  through  Muskin- 
gum and  Licking  Counties  of  that  State.  "The  compact  silicious  mate- 
rial of  which  this  ridge  is  made  up,"  says  Dr.  Ilildreth,  "  seems  to  have 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  aborigines,  who  have  manufactured  it  largely 
into  arrow  and  spearheads,  if  we  may  be  allowed  to  judge  from  the 
numerous  circular  excavations  which  have  been  made  in  minii.g  the 
rock,  and  the  piles  of  chipped  (juartz  lying  on  the  surface.  How  exten- 
sively it  has  been  worked  for  these  purposes,  may  be  imagined  from  the 
countless  number  of  the  pits,  experience  having  taught  them  that  the 
rock  recently  dug  from  the  earth  could  be  split  with  more  freedom 
than  that  which  had  lain  exposed  to  the  weather.  These  excavation  ; 
are  found  the  whole  length  of  the  outcrop,  but  more  abundantly  at 
'  Flint  Eidge,'  where  it  is  most  compact  and  diversified  with  rich 
colors.''* 

The  Indian  working-places  of  which  I  spoke  are  not  always  met  in 
the  neighborhood  of  those  spots  where  flint  was  quarried  or  otherwise 
abundant,  but  also  sometimes  at  considerable  distances  from  the  latter, 
in  which  cases  they  are,  of  course,  of  comparatively  small  extent. 
Their  existence,  however,  proves  that  the  material  was  transported  from 
place  to  place,  and  thus  assumed  the  character  of  a  ware.    Colonel 

*  Ilildreth,  iu  Mather's  First  Auiiuul  Report  on  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  ColumhuH,  1838,  p.  31. 


20 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


Charles  C.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  who  has  paid  particular  attention  to  the 
former  history  of  his  native  State  Georgia,  informed  me  he  had  ob- 
served quantities  of  silicious  stone,  surrounded  by  numerous  rejected 
fragments  and  unfinished  spear  and  arrowheads  of  tlie  same  material, 
in  districts  of  that  State  where  far  and  near  no  quartz  minerals  occur 
in  situ.  He  showed  me  a  number  of  these  incomplete  flint  objects  ob- 
tained from  such  places. 

For  the  fact  that  stones  for  arrowheads  formed  an  object  of  traffic 
among  the  natives,  even  historical  evidence  is  not  wanting.  I  refer  to 
a  passage  in  the  relation  of  Cabega  de  Vaca,  the  flrst  European  who 
has  given  an  account  of  the  interior  of  North  America.  The  passage 
in  question  will  be  quoted  in  a  subsequent  section. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  flint  in  a  half- worked  state,  that  is,  in  flattish 
pieces  roughly  chipped  around  their  circumference  and  presenting 
irregular  heart-shaped,  oval,  or  round  outlines,  formed  an  object  of  ex- 
change, and  as  such  was  transported  to  i)laces  far  distant  from  the  sites 
which  furnished  the  raw  material.  Those  who  quarried  the  flint  fash- 
ioned it  in  this  manner  for  the  sake  of  saving  space  and  for  easier  tran- 
sportation. Smaller  or  greater  quantities  of  such  worked  flint  frag- 
ments of  homogeneous  character  are  sometimes  found  in  the  earth, 
where  the  natives  had  buried  them,  believing  that  flint  splits  more 
readily  when  recently  taken  from  the  ground.  These  deposits,  however, 
are  not  always  composed  of  pieces  which  required  further  chipping  in 
order  to  receive  their  final  shape,  but  also  sometimes  of  finished  imple- 
njents.  I  have  treated  of  these  buried  deposits  of  flint  objects  in  an 
article  published  in  the  Smithsonian  Eeport  for  1868,  to  which  I  refer 
in  order  to  avoid  repetitions.*  The  agricultural  implements  of  East 
St.  Louis,  described  in  that  article,  are  very  skilfully  executed 
manufactures  of  the  aborigines ;  the  large  flint  discs,  on  the  contrary, 
which,  as  I  mentioned,  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  found  in  great  num- 
ber in  a  mound  of  "Clark's  Work"  in  Ohio,  and  the  rude  flint  objects 
of  elongated  oval  outline  from  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  between 
St.  Louis  and  Carondelet,  jiresent,  in  all  i)robability,  only  rudi- 
iiu'utary  forms  of  implements,  and  were  destined  to  be  finished  at  a 
tiiture  time.  It  cannot  be  tloubted  that  the  stone  of  which  the  discs 
of  Clark's  Work  are  made  was  derived  from  the  quarries  of  Flint 
Kidge.  This  fact  has  been  established  by  careful  comparisons.  The 
stone  in  question  is  designated  as  hornstone.  It  is  a  beautiful  ma- 
terial, resembling  in  color  and  grain  certain  varieties  of  the  real 
European  flint,  and  is  sometimes  marked  with  darker  or  lighter  con- 
centric bands,  the  centre  of  which  is  formed  by  a  small  nucleus  of 
blue  chalcedony.  These  bands  are  particularly  observable  on  the  sur- 
iaces  which  have  undergone  a  change  of  color  by  exposure.  The  stone, 
in  general,  possesses  qualities  by  which  it  can  be  recognized  at  once, 
even  when  met  in  a  wrought  state  far  from  its  original  place  of  occur- 


A  Deposit  of  Agricultural  Flint  Implemeuts  in  Southern  Illinois,  p.  401. 


ICA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN   NORTH    AMEBICA. 


21 


3iitiou  to  the 
he  had  ob- 
rous  rejected 
me  material, 
inerals  occur 
t  objects  ob- 

ect  of  traffic 
f.  I  refer  to 
iropeau  who 
The  passage 


s,  in  flattish  | 

I  presenting  | 

abject  of  ex-  | 

om  the  sites  .| 

le  Hint  fash-  I 

i 

easier  trau-         I 

d  flint  frag;-        I 

1  the  earth,        | 

splits  more         | 

ts,  however,         i 

chipping  ill         I 

ished  iniple-         i 

bjects  in  an 

hich  I  refer 

lits  of  East 

y   executed 

e  contrary, 

great  nuni- 

tiint  objects 

)i  between 
only  rudi- 
lished  at  a 

I  the  discs 
8  of  Flint 
sons.  The 
uitiful  nia- 
the  real 

ghter  con- 
nucleus  of 

)n  the  sur- 

The  stone, 

id  at  once, 

i  of  occur- 

401. 


rence.  According  to  Mr.  Sipiier,  arrowheads  made  of  this  hornstone 
have  been  found  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan.  That 
they  occur  in  Illinois,  I  can  attest  from  personal  experience. 

A  very  remarkable  find  of  objects  manufiictured  from  the  hornstone 
of  Flint  Eidge  occurred  in  the  summer  of  18G9  on  the  farm  of  Oliver  II. 
Mullen,  near  Fayetteville,  in  St.  Clair  County,  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 
Some  children,  amusing  themselves  near  the  barn  of  that  farm,  happened 
to  dig  into  the  ground,  and  came  upon  a  deposit  of  iifty-two  disc-like 
flint  implements,  which  lay  closely  heaped  together.  I  obtained  a  num- 
ber of  these  implements  through  my  indefiitigable  co-laborer.  Dr.  Pat- 
rick, of  Belleville,  Illinois.  They  coincide  in  shape  with  those  of  Clark's 
Work,  but  are  somewhat  smaller,  and  not,  like  the  latter,  superficially 
prepared  objects,  but  highly-finished  implements.  This  fact  is  shown  by 
the  careful  chipping  of  the  edges,  to  which  sharpness  and  roundness  have 
been  imparted  by  small  and  carefully  measured  blows.  Unlike  the  de- 
posit of  East  St.  Louis,  which  consisted  of  perfectly  new  implements, 
that  of  Fayetteville  was  made  up  of  such  as  had  already  done  service. 
To  this  conclusion  I  am  lead  by  the  character  of  their  edges,  which  ex- 
hibit a  slight  wear  or  polish.  I  regard  these  implements  as  scraphu/  or 
smoothing  tools,  to  which  purposes  they  were  well  adapted  by  their 
shape;  and  I  have  but  little  doubt  that  the  less  finished  discs  of  Clark's 
Work  were  to  be  converted,  by  further  chipping,  into  implements  of  the 
same  kind. 

In  connection  with  the  object,  however,  which  I  have  in  view  in  4 his 
essay,  the  identity  of  the  stone  of  Flint  Ridge  with  that  of  which  the 
tools  found  at  Fayetteville  in  Illinois  consist,  is  the  point  that  deserves 
particular  (consideration.  This  identity  admits  of  no  doubt.  I  was 
convinced  of  it  at  first  sight  when  I  received  the  implements  from  Fay- 
etteville, and  so  were  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  to  whom  I  showed  my 
specimens.  The  direct  distance  from  the  quarries  at  Flint  llidge  to 
Fayetteville  is  about  four  hundred  English  miles,  and  thus  far,  at  least, 
the  stone  was  exported,  in  a  rudimentary  or  finished  shape,  from  its 
original  site.  So  much  is  certain ;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  implements 
made  of  this  hornstone  will  be  found  hereafter  at  still  greater  distances 
from  the  quarries  in  Ohio. 

RED   riPESTONE. 

The  celebrated  red  pipestone,  that  highly  valued  material  employed 
by  the  Indians  of  past  and  present  times  in  the  manufacture  of  theii' 
calumets,  occurs  in  situ  on  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  an  elevation  extend- 
ing between  the  ^Missouri  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi. 
This  is  the  classical  ground  of  the  surrounding  tribes,  and  many  le 
gends  lend  a  romantic  interest  to  that  region.  It  was  here  that  the 
Great  Spirit  assembled  the  various  Indian  nations  and  instructed  them 
in  ihe  art  of  making  pipes  of  peace,  as  related  by  Longfellow  in  his 


22 


ANCIENT    ABOEIGINAL   TRADE    IN    NORTH    AJIERICA. 


charming  "Song  of  Iliawatlia."  Even  hostile  tribes  njet  iiere  in  peace, 
for  this  district  was,  by  common  consent,  regar<UMi  as  neutral  ground, 
where  strife  and  feuds  were  suspended,  that  all  might  resort  unmolested 
to  the  quarry  and  supply  themselves  with  the  much-prized  red  stone. 
This  material,  though  compact,  is  not  hard,  and  therefore  easily  worked, 
and,  moreover,  capable  of  a  high  polish.  It  consists  chiefly  of  silica 
and  alumina,  with  an  admixture  of  iron,  which  produces  the  red  color. 
American,  and  probably  also  European,  mineralogists  call  this  stone 
Catlinite,  in  honor  of  the  zealous  ethnologist  and  painter,  Catlin,  who 
was  the  first  to  give  an  accurate  account  of  its  place  of  occurrence,  and 
to  relate  the  traditions  connected  with  the  red  pipestone  quarry.*  This 
locality  is  the  only  one  in  North  America  Avhere  this  peculiar  stone  is 
found,  and  it  is  doubtful,  indeed,  whether  in  any  other  place  on  both 
hemispheres  a  mineral  substance  is  met  which  corresponds  in  every  re- 
spect to  the  one  in  question. 

The  enterprising  Jesuit  missionary,  Marquette,  whoso  name  is  for- 
ever linked  with  the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  smoked  already  in 
the  year  1G73  the  pipe  of  peace  with  the  Illinois  Indians,  and  gives  the 
following  exact  description  of  that  important  utensil,  the  bowl  of  which, 
it  will  be  seen,  consisted  of  the  red  stone  of  Coteau  des  Prairies.  "It 
is  made  of  a  i)olished  red  stone,  like  marble,  so  pierced  that  one  end 
serves  to  hold  the  tobacco,  while  the  other  is  fastened  on  the  stem, 
which  is  a  stick  two  feet  long,  as  thick  as  a  common  cane,  and  pierced 
in  the  middle ;  it  is  ornamented  with  the  head  and  neck  of  different 
birds  of  beautiful  plumage ;  they  also  add  large  feathers  of  red,  green 
and  other  colors,  with  which  it  is  all  covered."t  His  ecclesiastical  suc- 
cessors also  frequently  mention  the  red  pipes  in  their  writings,  but  none 
of  them,  as  far  as  I  know,  alludes  to  the  locality  where  the  stone  was  ob- 
tained. The  first  notice  referable  to  that  place,  I  found  in  the  "  History  of 
Louisiana"  by  DuPratz,  and  even  his  statement  is  totally  erroneous  as  far 
as  the  situation  of  the  quarry  is  concerned.  "  On  the  bank  of  the  Missouri," 
he  says,  "  there  is  to  be  seen  a  pretty  high  cliff  {ccore),  which  rises  so 
abruptly  from  the  water  that  the  nimblest  rat  could  not  climb  it.  From 
the  middle  part  of  this  cliff'  projects  a  mass  of  red  stone,  which  is 
marked  with  white  spots  like  porphyry,  from  which  it  differs,  however, 
by  inferior  hardness,  being  almost  as  soft  as  tufa.  It  is  covered  by  an- 
other kind  of  stone  of  no  value,  and  rests  upon  the  same  sort  of  earth 
that  forms  the  other  hills.  The  inhabitants  of  the  country,  knowing 
the  applicability  of  that  stone,  are  in  the  habit  of  detaching  pieces  of 
it  by  arrow-shots,  which  pieces,  falling  into  the  water,  are  recovered  by 
diving.  From  fragments  of  suflBcient  size  they  make  calumets,  using 
their  knives  and  awls  in  manufacturing  them.    This  stone  can  bo 


^ 


*  Catlin,  North  American  Indians,  Loudon,  1848,  Vol II, Letters  54  and  55. 

tShea,  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Now  York,  1852,  p.  35. 


UICA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


23 


lere  in  peace, 
ntral  ground, 
L't  unmolested 
^d  red  stone, 
asily  worked, 
iefly  of  silica 
the  red  color, 
ill  this  stone 
,  Catlin,  who 
aurrence,  and 
larry.*    This 
Liliar  stone  is 
>lace  on  both 
5  in  every  re- 
name is  for- 
d  already  in 
lud  gives  the 
owl  of  which, 
'rairies.     "It 
that  one  end 
)n  the  stem, 
,  and  pierced 
:  of  diiferent 
)f  red,  greeu 
siastical  suc- 
gs,  but  none 
itone  was  ob- 
"  History  of 
neons  as  far 
le  Missouri," 
lich  rises  so 
b  it.    Prom 
ne,  which  is 
■s,  however, 
ered  by  an- 
)rt  of  earth 
y,  knowing 
ig  pieces  of 
^covered  by 
mets,  using 
>ne  can  bo 

55. 

,  1852,  p.  35. 


worked  without  difficulty  and  resists  the  fire  very  well.''*  Leaving  aside  the 
incorrect  description  of  the  locality  and  of  the  character  of  occurrence, 
tlie  stone  here  mentioned  corresponds  exactly  to  that  of  Coteau  des  Prai- 
ries, the  latter  being,  indeed,  very  often  marked  with  lighter  (though 
not  white)  spots,  which  give  it  a  perfectly  porphyritic  appearance. 
I  have  seen  many  raw  pieces  of  the  red  pii)estone  and  have  some  my- 
self, in  which  this  peculiarity  is  prominently  exhibited.  The  unworked 
stone  is  usually  of  a  dull  pale  red,  the  heightened  color  appearing  only 
after  the  process  of  polishing. 

Carver,  who  explored  the  region  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  in  17GG-'GS, 
nK'utions  the  red  stone,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  visited  its  place  of  oc- 
currence, which  he  marks  on  his  map  as  the  "Country  of  Peace."  He 
also  states  distinctly  in  his  work  that  even  individuals  belonging  to  hos- 
tile tribes  met  in  peace  at  the  "Eed  Mountain,"  where  they  obtained  the 
stone  for  their  pipes.t  This  shows  that,  at  his  time,  the  neutrality  of  the 
district  was  still  respected.  This  laudable  regulation,  it  also  appears, 
had  not  yet  become  obsolete  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
for  on  the  map  accompanying  the  work  in  which  Lewis  and  Clarke 
describe  the  territories  explored  by  them  in  1804-'G,  the  locality  in  ques- 
tion is  thus  designated :  "Here  the  dili'erent  Tribes  meet  in  Frieiidship 
and  collect  Stone  for  Pipes."  Yet,  about  forty  years  Jigo,  when  Catlin 
visited  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  the  warlike  Sioux  or  Dakotahs  had 
usurped  the  exclusive  authority  over  the  quarry,  not  permitting  their 
enemies  to  provide  themselves  with  stone.  Catlin  and  his  English 
traveling  companion  encoutitered  at  first  difficulties  on  their  way  to  the 
quarry,  a  band  of  those  Indians  trying  to  prevent  them  from  going 
there.  "As  this  red  stone,"  the  warriors  said,  "was  a  part  of  their 
flesh,  it  would  be  sacrilegious  for  white  men  to  touch  or  take  it  away;  a 
hole  would  be  made  in  their  flesh  and  the  blood  could  never  bo  made  to 
stop  running."!  When,  subsequently,  after  Catlin's  return  I'rom  the 
quarry,  an  old  chief  of  the  Sacs  saw  some  pieces  of  the  red  stone  in  the 
traveler's  possession,  he  observed:  "My  friend,  when  I  was  young  I 
used  to  go  with  our  young  men  to  the  Mountain  of  the  Eed  Pipe  and  dig 
out  pieces  for  our  pipes.  We  do  not  go  now,  and  our  red  pipes,  as  you 
see,  are  but  few.  The  Dakotahs  have  spilled  the  blood  of  the  red  men  on 
that  place  and  the  Great  Spirit  is  oflended."§ 

Mr.  Catlin  is  of  opinion  that  the  Indian  quarrying  operations  at 
Coteau  des  Prairies  reach  back  into  far  remote  times,  basing  his  view 

*  Du  Pratz,  Histoire  de  la  Louisiaue,  Paris,  1758,  Vol.  I,  p.  15'iG.  The  passage  in 
question  ia  not  quite  clear.  It  remains  doubtful  whether  DuPratz,  in  speaking  of  the 
stone  resembling  porphyry,  relates  what  he  has  heard  himself,  or  alludes  to  the  jour- 
nal of  M.  do  Bourgmont,  to  which  he  refers  on  the  preceding  page.  The  last-named 
cavalier  undertook,  in  1724,  an  expedition  to  the  country  of  the  Padoucas,  or  Co- 
manchea.  The  erroneous  account  may  be  duo  to  the  natives,  who  purposely  misplaced 
the  locality  of  the  quarry. 

t  Carver,  Travels,  p.  78.  .  . 

t  Catlin,  Vol.  II,  p.  106. 

$  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  171. 


24 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


chiefly  ou  the  traditions  of  the  ludiaus,  which  certaiulj-  indicate  a  com- 
paratively long  acquaintance  with  the  locality.  It  appears,  however, 
hardly  admissible  to  ascribe  a  very  high  antiquity  to  the  quarry,  consider- 
ing that  thus  far  no  pipes  or  objects  of  ornament  made  of  the  red  stone 
have  been  discovered  in  the  oldest  tumuli  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  and 
the  results  of  a  recent  examination  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  by  Dr. 
F.  V.  Hayden  likewise  tend  to  detract  much  from  the  supposed  antiquity 
of  this  aboriginal  place  of  resort.  According  to  Dr.  Hayden,  the  layer  of 
Catlinite,  hardly  a  foot  in  thickness,  rests  upon  a  gray  quartzite,  and 
there  are  about  five  feet  of  the  same  gray  quartzite  above  it,  which  the 
Indians  had  to  remove  with  great  labor  before  the  pipestone  could  be 
secured.  A  ditch  from  four  to  five  feet  wide  and  about  five  hundred 
yards  in  length  indicates  the  extent  of  work  done  by  the  Indians.  Only 
about  one-fourth  of  the  pipestone  layer,  thin  as  it  is,  can  be  used  for  the 
manufacture  of  pipes  and  other  objects,  the  remainder  being  too  impure, 
slaty,  or  fragile.  Dr.  Hayden  describes  the  place  as  unpicturesque  and 
deficient  in  trees.  He  found  no  stone  implements  in  the  vicniity,  nor 
did  he  loaru  that  any  had  ever  been  found ;  rusty  iron  tools,  ou  the 
other  hand,  are  frequently  discovered.  According  to  his  view,  the  quarry 
belongs  to  a  comparatively  recent  period. f 

Nevertheless  the  fact  seems  to  be  well  established  that  the  surround- 
ing tribes  resorted  for  many  succeeding  generations  to  this  locality,  and 
that  it  formed  a  neutral  ground,  which  they  approached  with  a  kind  of 
superstitious  awe.  The  Indians  looked  upon  the  red  stone  as  a  particu- 
larly valuable  gift  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  Catlin  relates  from  personal 
observation  that  they  humbly  sacrificed  tobacco  before  five  huge  boul- 
ders of  granite  near  the  quarry,  in  order  to  acquire  the  privilege,  as  it 
were,  to  take  away  a  few  pieces  of  the  stone.t  At  present  the  settle- 
ments of  the  whites  are  advancing  toward  that  interesting  spot,  which 
lies  now,  indeed,  within  the  State  of  Minnesota,  close  to  its  western 
border,  and  in  a  county  to  which  the  name  "Pipestone"'  has  been  given. 
A  communication  from  Dr.  Hajden  informs  me  that  the  i)lace  is  still 
visited  by  Dakotah  Indians,  but  not  very  frequently,  and  without  the 
observance  of  those  ceremonies  which  formerly  appeared  indispensable. 
Not  much  longer,  however,  will  the  red  man  be  seen  to  make  his  pil- 
grimage to  the  quarry  of  Coteau  des  Prairies. 

Mr.  Catlin  has  published  very  good  drawings  of  the  red  pipes,  which 
are,  moreover,  familiar  to  every  one  who  has  paid  some  attention  to 
Indian  matters.  Some  of  them  bear  testimony  to  the  skill  and  patience 
of  their  makers,  who,  in  most  cases,  probably  possess  no  other  imple- 
ments than  the  knives  and  files  obtained  from  the  traders.  The  cylin- 
drical or  conical  cavities  in  the  bowl,  and  neck  of  these  pipes  are  drilled 
with  a  hard  stick  and  sharp  sand  and  water.J 


01 

oi 
wl 


01 

n« 


*  Haydeu,  in  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  Vol.  XLIII,  January,  1867. 
t  Catlin,  Vol.  II,  p.  160. 
tCatlin,  Vol.  I,  p.  234. 


[CA. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


2 


o 


icate  a  com- 
rs,  however, 
ry,  consider- 
he  red  stone 

valley,  aud 
iries  by  Dr. 
2d  antiquity 

the  layer  of 
lartzite,  aud 
t,  which  the 
ne  could  be 
ive  huudred 
lians.  Only 
used  for  the 
too  impure, 
uesqne  aud 
ieniity,  nor 
)ols,  ou  the 
,  the  quarry 

e  surround- 
acality,  and 
h  a  kind  of 
5  a  particu- 
m  personal 
huge  boul- 
lego,  as  it 
the  settle- 
pot,  which 
ts  western 
een  given, 
lice  is  still 
ithout  the 
speu  sable, 
ke  his  pil- 

»es,  which 
eutiou  to 
patience 
er  imple- 
'he  cylin- 
re  drilled 


,1867. 


j 


Xot  long  ago  a  small  Catlinite  pipe  of  unusual  shape  was  sent  to  me, 
which  had  been  ploughed  up  in  a  maize-field  near  Centreville,  in  Southern 
Illinois  (St.  Clair  County).  Such  older  specimens  are  even  met  in 
the  New  England  States,  near  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  collection  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  contains  some  pipes  and  ornaments  made  of  Cat- 
linite, which  w€re  taken  from  Indian  graves  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
or  obtained  from  the  Iroquois  still  inhabiting  the  same  State.  The  raw 
or  worked  red  pipestone,  therefore,  constituted  an  article  of  barter, 
which  was  brought  from  its  original  place  of  occurrence  to  the  present 
Eastern  States  of  the  Union.  A  passage  in  Loskiel,  who  chiefly  treats 
of  the  Delawares  and  Iroquois,  refers  to  this  trade.  lu  describing  the 
pipes  of  those  Indians,  he  says :  "  Some  are  manufactured  from  a  kind 
of  red  stone,  which  is  sometimes  brought  for  sale  by  Indians  who  live 
near  the  Marble  river,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Mississippi,  where  they 
extract  it  {sic)  from  a  mountain."*  This  passage,  it  will  be  noticed,  im- 
plies a  direct  trade-connection  of  great  extent,  the  distance  between  the 
red  pipestone  quai'ry  and  the  Northern  Atlantic  States  being  equal  to 
twelve  or  thirteen  huudred  English  miles. 

SHELLS. 

A  substance  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  easily  worked,  such  as  is  ofl'ered 
by  nature  in  the  shells  of  marine  and  fresh-water  mollusks,  could  not 
fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  men  in  the  earliest  times.  The  love  of 
l^ersonal  adornment,  moreover,  already  manifests  itself  in  the  lowest 
stages  of  human  development,!  and  shells  being,  above  other  natural 
productions,  particularly  fitted  to  be  made  into  ornaments,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  they  were  employed  for  that  purpose  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  The  North  American  tribes  made  an  extensive  use  of  the  shells 
of  the  sea-coast  as  well  as  of  those  of  their  rivers,  and  fossil  marine 
shells  were  also  employed  as  ornaments.  The  valves  of  recent  marine 
mollusks,  indeed,  must  have  been  widely  circulated  by  barter  consider- 
ing that  they  are  found,  in  the  shape  of  ornaments,  antl  sometimes  of 
utensils,  in  the  interior  of  North  America,  at  great  distances  from  the 
shores  of  the  sea.  The  oldest  reference  to  the  shell-trade  among  the 
aborigines  is  contained  in  the  remarkable  account  of  the  Sjjaniard 
Alvar  Nunez  Cabega  de  Yaca,  who  accompanied  in  the  year  15l*7,  as 
treasurer  and  alguazil  mayor,  the  unfortunate  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  on 

*  Loskiel,  Mission  der  evangeliscbeu  BiiUler  uiittr  dtn  ludiaueru  iu  Noidamerikii, 
Barby,  17d9,  p.  C6. 

tit  is  probable  tliat  the  barbarous  manufacturers  of  the  rude  flint  tools  found,  a.<.«o- 
ciated  with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals,  in  the  diluvial  deposits  of  Northern  France, 
used  small  round  petrefacts  of  the  chalk  {Coacinopora  globularis,  D'Orb.)  aa  beads,  by 
stringing  them  together,  these  i)etritied  bodies  being  provided  by  nature  with  holes 
liassing  through  their  middle  (Lyoll,  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  119).  Personal  vanity  is  a 
prominent  feature  in  the  character  of  the  North  American  Indians.  Among  the  mis- 
erable Root-Diggers  an  old  woman  has  been  seen,  who  "  had  absolutely  nothing  on 
her  person  but  a  thread  round  her  neck,  from  which  was  pendent  a  solitary  bead." 
(Irving,  Adventures  of  Captain  Bounevillo,  p.  2G1.) 


26 


ANCIENT    AliOUIGINAL    TKADE    IN    NORTH   AMEUICA. 


his  expedition  for  the  conquest  of  rioiida.  The  leader  and  nearly  all 
his  followers  having  perished,  Cabe^a  de  Yaca,  one  of  the  survivors, 
wandered  with  his  companions  for  manj'  years  through  North  America, 
until  he  Anally  succeeded  in  reaching  the  settlements  of  his  country- 
men near  Culiacan,  in  the  present  Mexican  province  of  Sinaloa,  after 
having  traversed  the  whole  continent  from  the  Floridian  peninsula  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  description  of  his  adventures  and  suflerings  forms 
one  of  the  most  remaikablo  early  works  on  North  America,  being,  in- 
deed, the  first  that  treats  of  the  interior  of  the  country  and  of  its  na- 
tive population.  For  the  latter  reason  it  is  of  particular  value  to  the 
ethnologist,  presenting,  as  it  does,  the  Indians  as  they  were  seen  by  the 
first  white  visitors.*  While  he  sojourned  among  the  Charruco  Indians, 
a  tribe  inhabiting  the  coast,  he  carried  on  the  business  of  a  trader, 
which,  as  he  observes,  suited  him  very  well,  because  it  protected  him  at 
least  from  starvation.  The  excursions  undertaken  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
trade  sometimes  extended  as  far  as  forty  or  fifty  leagues  from  the  coast  i  nto 
the  interior  of  the  district.  Ilis  wares  consisted  of  pieces  and  "  hearts" 
of  sea-shells  {peda^os  de  caracoles  de  la  mar  y  cora^ones  de  ellos),  of 
shells  employed  by  the  Indians  as  cutting  implements,  and  of  a  smaller 
kind  that  was  used  as  money.  These  objects  of  trade  he  transported 
to  i^arts  distant  from  the  sea,  exchanging  them  there  for  other  articles 
of  which  the  coast-people  were  in  want,  such  as  hides,  a  red  earth 
for  painting  their  faces,  stones  for  arrowheads,  hard  reeds  for  shafting 
the  latter,  and,  finally,  tufts  of  deer's  hair  dyed  of  a  scarlet  color,  which 
were  worn  as  head-dresses.t  This  passage,  indeed,  is  of  particular  in- 
terest iu  connection  with  the  subject  treated  in  this  essay,  beciluse  it 
affords  not  only  some  insight  into  the  system  of  Indian  trade,  but  like- 
wise informs  us  that  among  the  objects  of  exchange  those  were  con- 
spicuous which  served  for  the  gratification  of  personal  vanity.  By  the 
"hearts"  of  sea-shells  Cabega  de  Vaca  understands  the  spines  otcoIu- 
melhc  of  large  conchs,  which  parts  were  worked  by  the  aborigines  into  a 
kind  of  ornament,  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter. 

Large  quantities  of  shell-ornaments,  mostly  destined  to  be  strung 
together  or  to  be  worn  as  pendants,  have  been  found  in  the  sepulchral 
mouTids  and  other  burial-places  of  the  Indian  race.  In  Ohio,  accord- 
ing to  ^Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  beads  made  of  shell  and  other  mate- 

*  TIio  iuiportauce  of  Oixbe^a  do  Vaca's  work,  it  seeiua  to  me,  Las  been  undervalued, 
perhaiijs  on  account  of  the  marvelous  cures  which  he  pretends  to  have  performed 
among  tilt!  natives.  Imbued  with  the  superstitious  of  his  time,  he  probably  believed 
iu  bis  own  powers  of  healiug  the  sick  in  a  supernatural  way.  When  these  incredible 
details  are  taken  away,  there  remains  much  in  the  book  that  deserves  the  highest  ap- 
prt'cialion.  According  to  Arthur  Helps,  a  most  careful  investigator,  his  account 
'•  bears  every  mark  of  truthfulness."  See :  Helps,  The  Spanish  Conquest  in  America, 
Harper's  edition,  Vol.  IV,  p.  397. 

t  Relation  et  Naufrages  d'Alvar  Nuucz  Cabcga  de  Vaca,  (Tornaux-Compaus  Col- 
lection), Paris,  1837,  p.  121,  &c.  The  Spjinish  original  appeared  in  the  year  1555  at 
Valladolid. 


I 


K12ICA. 

and  ueurly  all 
tbe  survivors, 
forth  America, 
of  bis  country- 
■  Siualoa,  after 
euinsula  to  tbe 
iflerings  forms 
ica,  being,  iu- 
aiid  of  its  na- 
•  value  to  tbe 
sre  seen  by  tbe 
irruco  ludiaus, 
8  of  a  trader, 
oteeted  bim  at 
pursuit  of  bis 
a  tbe coast  into 
>  and  "  hearts" 
?s  lie  ellos),  of 
id  of  a  smaller 
e  transported 
other  articles 
1,  a  red  earth 
3  for  shafting 
3t  color,  which 
particular  in- 
ay,  because  it 
ade,  but  like- 
ose  were  con- 
nity.    By  tbe 
pines  OTcolu- 
rigines  into  a 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TKADE    IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


27 


strung 


to  be 
be  sepulchral 
Ohio,  accord- 
1  other  mate- 

n  undervalued, 
lavo  performed 
)l)ably  believed 
ihese  incredible 
the  highest  ap- 
T,  his  account 
est  in  America, 

-Compaus  Col- 
10  year  1555  at 


:i 


rials  occur  even  more  frecpuMitly  in  tbe  sacrificial  mounds  than  in  those 
of  a  sepulchral  (;baracter,  a  circumstance  that  nmy  be  accounted  for  by 
tbe  value  attached  to  these  objects  by  their  owners,  who  deemed  them 
worthy  of  being  olfcred  in  their  sa(!rilicial  rites.  Tbe  methods  emiiloyed 
by  tbe  manufacturers  doubtless  being  of  the  most  primitive  character, 
each  shell-bead  was  the  result  of  a  certain  amount  of  patient  labor,  and 
consecpiently  was  esteemed  according  to  tbe  time  and  art  bestowed  on 
its  production. 

Tbe  Indian  sliell  ornament  in  its  simplest  form  consisted  of  entire 
specimens  of  small  marine  univalves,  such  as  species  of  Marpinclla, 
Xafica,  and  OUvaj  which,  after  being  conveniently  ])ierced,  could  be 
strung  together  at  once  without  further  pre])aration,  and  worn  as  neck- 
laces, armlets,  »S:c.  The  above-mentioned  kinds  were  met  by  Squier  and 
Davis  in  the  mounds  of  Ohio,  and  in  oi)ening  tbe  Grave  Creek  Mound 
live  hundred  specimens  of  Marginella  were  obtained  near  one  of  the 
skeletons.  Some  time  ago,  I  rec(uved  pierced  specimens  of  iMarginella, 
recovered  in  removing  a  mound  at  East  St.  Louis,  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois, which,  I  believe,  contained  a  great  number  of  Ihem.  Small  sea- 
shells  appear  to  be  particularly  abundant  in  tbe  Indian  graves  of  tbe 
Gulf  States.  ]\Iore  than  a  bundr<id  years  ago,  it  was  noticed  by  Carver 
that  sea-shells  were  much  worn  by  the  Indians  of  tbe  interior  parts — 
he  chiefly  refers  to  the  Dakotabs  on  the  Upper  Mississippi — and  reck- 
oned very  ornamental.  He  could  not  learn  how  they  procured  the»n, 
but  thought  they  were  obtained  by  traffic  with  other  nations  nearer  tbe 
sea.*  Suudl /ossii  nnirine  shells  were  sometimes  used  for  the  same  jmr- 
pose.  In  an  article  published  in  tbe  Smithsonian  Report  for  18G8, 1 
have  stated  that  a  lai'ge  number  of  such  fossil  shells  were  found,  asso- 
ciated with  agricultural  flint  implements,  under  the  surface  at  East 
St.  Louis,  tbe  place  already  mentioned.!  They  belonged  almost  ex- 
clusively to  tbe  genus  Couovulus  {Melamims),  and  many  of  them  were 
prepared  for  stringing  by  a  lateral  perforation,  as  shown  in  the  drawing 
(on  p.  404)  representing  one  of  those  shells.  My  knowledge,  however, 
that  the  Indians  used  small  fossil  sea-shells  as  ornaments  is  not  confined 
to  the  case  in  (piestion,  and  I  presume  that  many  of  tbe  small  marine 
shells  taken  from  the  mounds,  wliich  are  considered  as  belonging  to 
recent  species,  are,  in  reality,  of  fossil  origin.  Other  fossil  remains  in 
a  worked  state,  it  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  were  obtained 
from  the  mounds  of  Ohio,  as,  for  instance,  shark's  teeth,  and  others  of 
considerable  size,  perhaps  belonging  to  a  cetaceous  animal.  Tbe  for- 
mer are  notched  on  both  sides,  or  pierced  at  the  lower  end,  and  may 
have  served,  respectively,  as  amulets,  arrowheads,  or  cutting  imple- 
ments. 

Yet,  tbe  number  of  entire  sea-shells  employed  as  beads  by  the  imtives 

•  Carver,  Travels,  p.  151. 

t  Their  fossil  character  was  first  |)oiiited  out  to  mo  by  a  conipetout  conchologist,  Mr. 
Thomas  Blaud,  of  Brooklyn. 


28 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE    IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


appears  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  enormous  quantity  of 
objects  of  the  same  class,  which  they  manufactured  from  fragments 
of  the  valves  of  marine  and  fluviatile  shells.  These  wrought  beads  ex- 
hibit various  forms  and  sizes,  but,  according  to  my  experience,  are 
mostly  found  in  the  shape  of  more  or  less  regular  sections  of  cylinders, 
pierced  through  the  centre.  They  are  often  proportionately  thick,  but 
sometimes  rather  thin,  resembling  the  small  bone  buttons  of  commerce. 
I  have  shell-beads  from  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  Most  of 
them  are  small,  not  exceeding  six  or  seven  millimetres  in  diameter ;  my 
largest  specimens,  however,  have  a  diameter  of  no  less  than  twenty- 
eight  millimetres.  These  latter,  which  were  found,  some  time  ago,  with 
skeletons  in  the  now  leveled  "Big  Mound"  at  St.  Louis,  are  very  flat 
in  proportion  to  their  diameter,  and  may  be  called  discs  rather  than 
beads.  They  are  evidently  made  from  the  valves  of  species  of  Unm  of 
the  Mis8is8ii)pi  valley.  These  and  other  shells,  which  abound  in  many 
rivers  of  the  United  States,  frequently  may  have  furnished  the  material 
for  ornaments,  especially  in  districts  remote  from  the  sea-coast.  The 
holes  of  Indian  shell-beads  generally  are  drilled  from  both  sides,  and 
therefore  mostly  of  a  bi-conical  shape.*  The  colored  glass  beads  and 
enameled  beads  often  found  in  Indian  graves  are,  of  course,  of  Euro- 
pean origin,  the  art  of  making  them  being  unknown  to  the  aborigines, 
and  their  occurrence  in  Indian  burial-places,  therefore,  indicates  that 
the  interment  took  place  at  a  period  when  an  intercourse  with  the 
whites  already  had  been  established.  Of  the  so-called  wampum-beads 
I  shall  speak  at  the  close  of  this  section. 

The  largest  and  therefore  the  most  esteemed  beads  and  pendants, 
however,  were  made  by  the  Indians  from  the  columellce,  or,  as  Cabega 
de  Vaca  expresses  it,  from  the  "hearts,"  of  large  conchs,  among  which 
the  Strombits  gigas  seems  to  have  been  most  frequently  used.  These 
beads  arc  more  or  less  cylindrical,  or  globular,  and  always  drilled  length- 
wise. Some  are  tapering  at  both  ends,  resembling  a  cigar  in  shape.  I 
have  seen  specimens  of  two  and  one-half  inches  in  length.  The  aborigines 
also  maile  from  the  columellae  of  large  marine  univalves  peculiar  pin- 
shaped  articles,  consisting  of  a  more  or  less  massive  stem,  which  termi- 
nates in  a  round  knob.  Professor  Wy  man  mentions,  in  the  Third  Annual 
Eeport  on  the  Peabody  Museum  (1870),  a  specimen  of  this  kind  found 
in  Tennessee,  which  is  five  inches  long,  with  a  head  an  inch  in  diame- 
ter. In  the  collection  of  Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  there 
are  quite  similar  specimens  of  this  class.    Their  destination  is  yet  .unex- 


*  Flat  shell-beads  are  nmoug  the  oldest  antiquities  of  Europe.  Lartet  found  them  in 
the  grotto  of  Anrignac,  which  served  as  a  burial-place  at  a  period,  when  the  cave-bear, 
cave-hyena,  niamnioth,  rhinoceros,  &o.,  still  existed.  Some  small  flat  beads  in  my  pos- 
session, made  of  Cardium,  which  were  obtained  from  a  dolmen  in  Southern  France,  can- 
not be  distinguished  from  similar  productions  of  the  North  American  Indians.  Entire 
sea-shells  (mostly  Litorhia  Utorea),  pierced  for  stringing,  occurred  in  the  cave  of  Cro- 
Magnon,  in  the  valley  of  the  Vfez6re;  Pierced  valves  of  fossil  sea-shella  ■v^ere  found  at 
other  stations  of  the  reindeer-period  in  the  same  valley,  &c. 


t^  A* 


AKCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE    IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


29 


quantitj'  of 
fragments 
t  beads  ex- 
jrienee,  are 
F  cyliuders, 
thick,  but 
commerce. 
I.    Most  of 
meter ;  mj- 
an  twenty- 
3  ago,  with 
B  very  flat 
ither  tlian 
of  Unm  of 
id  in  many 
le  material 
aast.    The 
sides,  and 
beads  and 
S  of  Euro- 
iborigines, 
icates  that 
?  with  the 
)um-bead8 

pendants, 
IS  Cabega 
►ng  which 
These 
Bd  length - 
shape.  I 
,borigine8 
uliar  pin- 
ch termi- 
d  Annual 
nd  found 
in  diame- 
yn, there 
^'et  .uuex- 

id  them  in 
cave-bear, 
in  mypos- 
rance,  can- 
s.  Entire 
ve  of  Cro- 
6  fonnd  at 


plained ;  they  were  perhaps  attached  to  the  head-dress,  or  worn  as  orna- 
ments in  some  other  way.  The  unwrought  columelliB  of  large  sea-shells 
have  been  found  at  considerable  distances  from  the  coast,  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  Ohio  and  Tennessee. 

1  have  seen  some  very  old  Indian  shell-ornaments,  which  were  worn 
suspended  from  the  neck,  like  medals  or  gorgets.  They  are  round  or 
oval  plates,  from  two  to  four  inches  in  diameter,  on  which  various  de- 
signs, sometimes  quite  tasteful,  are  engraved  or  att  through.  In  some 
instances  their  ornamentation  consists  in  regularly  disposed  perfora- 
tions.* 

Very  largo  sea-shells  of  the  univalve  kind,  either  in  their  natural 
state  or  more  or  less  changed  by  art,  frequently  have  been  found  in  In- 
dian buriai-places  and  in  localities  generally,  where  the  traces  of  Indian 
occupancy  are  met.  Species  of  the  Pyrula  and  Cassis  occur  most  fre- 
quently. By  the  removal  of  the  inner  whorls  and  spines,  and  other 
raodilieations,  these  shells  are  sometimes  prepared  to  servo  as  driuking- 
vessels  and  dishes.  Professor  Wyman  speaks  in  the  before-mentioned 
report  of  such  vessels  obtained  from  Tennessee  and  Florida,  which 
are  made  from  shells  of  the  Pyrula  perversa,  Lam.  One  of  the  vessels 
measures  a  foot  in  length,  though  the  pointed  end  is  wanting.  Dr. 
Troost  gives  the  description  and  representation  of  a  large,  entirely  hol- 
lowed Cassis  flammea,  Lam.,  found  in  Tennessee,  which  served  as  the 
receptacle  of  a  kneeling  human  figure  of  clay,  to  which  he  attributes 
the  character  of  an  idol.t  I  saw  in  the  collection  of  Colonel  Jones,  of 
Brooklyn,  a  Cassis,  likewise  hollowed,  which  is  eight  inches  and  a  half 
long,  and  has  a  diameter  of  seven  inches,  where  its  periphery  is  widest. 
This  specimen  is  one  of  two  which  were  found  near  Clarksville,  Haber- 
sham County,  Georgia,  in  one  of  those  Indian  stone-graves,  which  are 
met,  sometimes  many  of  them  together,  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States.:): 

In  the  State  of  Ohio,  where  the  former  inhabitants  have  left  the  most 
conspicuous  traces  of  their  occupancy  in  the  shape  of  numerous  earth- 

*  "They  oftentinies  make,  of  thi.s  sbell,  a  .sort  of  j^orj^e,  whith  tlioy  wear  about  tb«Mr 
neck  in  a  string ;  so  it  bangs  on  tbeir  collar,  whereon  souietinus  is  engraven  a  cross, 
or  some  odd  sort  of  ligure,  which  conies  next  in  their  fancy.  The  gorges  will  some- 
times sell  for  three  or  four  buckskins  ready  dressed."  Lawson,  History  of  Carolina, 
London,  1714;  reprint,  Raleigh,  IrtliO,  p.  315.  For  drawings  see  Schoolcraft,  Vol.1, 
plate  19,  ligure  3,  and  plate  25,  figures  2\)  and  30 ;  also,  Morgan,  League  of  the  Iroquois, 
1>.  389. 

t  Trauaactious  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  Vol.  I,  p.  361. 

tThe  stone-grave  in  question  contained  a  skeleton,  much  decayed,  and,  besides  the 
two  Ca«8ts-8hclls,  stone  axes  and  chisels,  some  perforated  objects  of  stone,  &c.  The 
most  important  piece,  however,  was  a  copper  axe,  which  deserves  particular  mention. 
This  axe  is  very  long,  but  narrow  and  thin,  and  shows  on  both  sides  very  distinctly 
the  friction  produced  by  having  been  inserted  into  the  split  end  of  a  wooden  handle. 
The  objects  found  in  this  grave  are  all  in  the  possession  of  Colonel  Jones,  who  intends 
to  publish  an  illustrated  description  of  this  find  in  his  forthcoming  work  on  the  an- 
tiquities of  Cfeorgia. 


30 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


works  of  various  descriptions,  and  sometimes  of  stupendous  extent,  these 
large  sliells  of  marine  moUusks  are  of  frecjueut  occurrence.  Atvvater 
already  mentions  them  in  the  lirst  volume  of  the  Arcba;oloj,'ia  Ameri- 
cana, published  iu  1820.  What  Squier  and  Davis  observed  in  regard 
to  sea-shells  generally  during  their  investigations  in  Ohio,  I  will  reca- 
pitulate here  in  a  few  words.  They  found  in  the  mounds  the  smaller 
shells  already  specifled,  namely,  Marginvlla,  Oliva,  and  Katioa,  as  well 
as  entire  specimens  or  fragments  of  Cassis  and  Pynda  perversa^  and  also 
the  unwrought  columella)  of  a  largo  species  of  couch,  probably  iStrombus 
(jigas.  Entire  specimens  of  the  Pyrula  perversa,  they  state,  irequeutly 
have  been  discovered  outside  of  the  mounds,  iu  excavating  at  different 
])oinls  in  the  Scioto  valley.  They  found  in  one  of  the  mounds  a  large 
Cassis,  from  which  ihe  inner  whorls  and  columella  had  been  removed, 
to  adapt  it  for  use  as  a  vessel.  This  specimen,  eleven  inches  and  a  half 
in  length  by  twenty-four  in  circumference  at  the  largest  part,  is  now  iu 
the  Blackmore  Museum.* 

The  above-mentioned  marine  shells,  all  pertaining  to  tropical  or  semi- 
tropical  regions,  occur  in  the  United  States  only  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  peninsula  of  Florida  (perhaps  a  little  hi<?her  northward)  and  on  the 
(!oast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  From  these  localities,  therefore,  they  must 
have  found  their  way  into  the  interior.  Adopting,  for  example,  Cape 
St.  Bias,  in  the  Mexican  Gulf,  and  the  centre  of  Ohio  as  the  limits  of 
shell-trade  from  south  to  north  (an  estimate  probably  much  below 
reality),  we  find  an  intervening  distance  of  nearly  eight  hundred  Eng- 
lish miles. 

Having  repeatedly  alluded  to  large  sea-shells  prepared  by  the  abo- 
rigines to  serve  as  vessels,  I  will  also  mention  that  the  Florida  Indians, 
when  first  seen  by  Europeans,  used  such  shells  as  drinkingcups.  This 
we  learn  from  the  plates  and  descriptions  contained  in  the  "Brevis  Nar- 
ratio,"  of  Jacques  leMoyne  de  Morgues,  in  the  second  volume  of  DeBry's 
<<  Peregrinationes  "  (Francoforti  ad  Moenum,1591).  Plate  19  represents 
Indian  widows  who  have  cut  off  their  hair  in  token  of  mourning,  and 
scatter  it  over  the  graves  of  their  husbands.  On  the  graves  are  de- 
posited bows  and  arrows,  spears,  and  the  large  shells  "  out  of  which 
they  drank."t  The  same  shells  may  be  seen  on  Plate  29,  where  warriors 
use  them  as  drinking-cups.  Plate  40,  finally,  illustrates  the  ceremonies 
which  were  performed  at  the  death  of  a  chieftain.  The  tumulus  is 
already  heaped  up,  and  around  its  base  arrows  are  stuck  perpendicu- 
larly in  the  ground.  The  drinking- vessel  of  the  deceased,  a  large  shell, 
is  placed  on  the  top  of  the  mound.|  Though  the  shells  are  figured  quite 
large  in  these  plates,  it  is  impossible  to  perceive  to  what  species  they 

'Ancient  Monuments,  p.  283. 

tThe  accompanying  text  runs  thus:  "Ad  maritorum  sepulcra  pet'venientea,  capilloa  aub 
auribus  praaecatit,  illisque  per  aepulcra  aparaia,  maritorum  arma  4'  conchas  ex  quibua  bibe- 
bant  ibidem  adjioiunt,  in  atrenuorum  virorum  memoriam." 

t  In  the  text :  "  Defuncto  aliquo  Begt  ejiia  Provincice,  magna  aoleimitate  ae^lHur,  4"  */«* 
tumulo  crater,  e  quo  bibere  aolebat,  impoiiitur,  defixia  circa  ipaum  tumulum  multia  aagittie." 


[CA. 

ixteut,  tbcso 
e.    At  water 
o^'iii  Ameii- 
Jtl  iu  regard 
I  will  reca- 
the  smaller 
tica,  as  well 
'ndj  and  also 
\y  Strombus 
,  irequeutly 
at  (liflereut 
luds  a  largo 
u  removed, 
sand  a  half 
t,  is  now  in 

ial  or  semi- 
»rn  shore  of 
and  on  tbe 
they  must 
tnple,  Cape 
le  limits  of 
uch  below 
dred  Eng- 

y  the  abo- 

a  Indians, 

ips.    This 

revis  Nar- 

fDeBry's 

epresents 

ning,  and 

s  are  de- 

of  which 

warriors 

remonies 

imulus  is 

'pendicu- 

•ge  shell, 

ed  quite 

ies  they 


apilloa  sub 
uibua  bibe- 

ur,  ^  efU9 
igittU." 


ANCIENT    AHOKIOINAL    TRADE    IN    NOKTH    AMERICA. 


31 


belong.  Lo  Moync  drew  bis  scenes  of  Indian  life  many  years  after  his 
return  from  America,  while  living  in  England,  and  as  be  executed  these 
delineations  from  memory,  they  are  doubtless  deficient  in  that  minute- 
ness of  detail  which  entitles  to  safe  comparisons  and  deductions. 

Anjong  some  tribes  of  the  interior  marine  shells  seem  to  have  been 
looked  upon  with  a  kind  of  religious  reverence,  and  indications  are  not 
wanting  that  they  plnyed  a  part  in  their  religious  ceremonies.  Tlie  pe- 
culiar sound  produced  by  a  sea-shell  when  approached  to  the  ear  ne(;es.sa- 
rily  appeared  strange  and  mysterious  to  them,  and  tbe  rareness  of  the 
shells,  together  with  their  elegant  forms  and  beautiful  colors,  (l()ul)tless 
increased  their  value  in  tbe  eyes  of  the  natives.  According  to  liOiig,  tbe 
Omaba8i)ossessed,  about  half  a  century  ago,  a  large  shell  (already  trans- 
mitted from  generation  to  generation)  to  which  they  paid  an  almost  relig- 
ious veneration.  "A  skin  lodge  or  temple,"  says  Long, "  is  approi)viate»l 
for  its  preservation,  in  which  a  person  constantly  resides,  charged  with 
the  care  of  it,  and  appointed  its  guard.  It  is  placed  upon  a  stand  and 
is  never  suffered  to  touch  tbe  earth.  It  is  concetiled  from  tbe  sight  by 
several  envelops,  which  are  composed  of  strands  of  the  proper  skins, 
plaited  and  joined  together  in  the  form  of  a  mat.  Tbe  whole  constitutes 
a  parcel  of  considerable  size,  from  which  various  articles  are  suspended, 
such  as  tobacco  and  roots  of  certain  plants.  No  i)erson  dares  to  oi)en 
all  tbe  coverings  of  this  sacred  deposit  in  order  to  expose  the  shell  to 
view.  Tradition  informs  them  that  curiosity  induced  three  different 
persons  to  examine  the  mysterious  shell,  who  were  immediately  pun- 
ished for  their  profanation  by  instant  and  total  loss  of  sight.  Tbe  last 
of  these  offenders,  whose  name  is  Ish-ka-tappe,  is  still  living.  It  was 
ten  years  since  that  he  attempted  so  unveil  the  sacred  shell,  but,  like 
his  predecessors,  he  w-as  visited  with  blindness,  which  still  continues, 
and  is  attributed  by  the  Indians,  as  well  as  by  himself,  to  bis  commit- 
ting of  the  forbidden  act.  This  shell  is  taken  with  the  band  to  all  tbe 
national  hunts,  and  is  then  transported  on  tbe  back  of  a  man.  Pre- 
viously to  undertaking  a  national  expedition  against  an  enenjy,  the 
sacred  shell  is  consulted  as  an  ora(;le.  For  this  purjiose  the  magi  of  the 
band  seat  themselves  around  tbe  great  medicine  lodge,  tbe  lower  part 
of  which  is  then  thrown  up  like  curtains  and  tbe  exterior  envelop  is 
carefully  removed  from  the  mysterious  parcel,  that  the  shell  may  receive 
air.  A  portion  of  the  tobacco,  consecrated  by  being  long  suspended  to 
the  skin-mats  or  coverings  of  the  shell,  is  now  taken  and  distributed  to 
the  magi,  who  fill  their  pipes  with  it  to  smoke  to  the  great  medicine. 
During  this  ceremony  an  individual  occasionally  inclines  his  head  for- 
ward and  listens  attentively  to  catch  some  sound  which  he  expects  to 
issue  from  the  shell.  At  length,  some  one  imagines  that  he  hears  a 
sound  like  tliat  of  a  forced  expiration  of  air  from  the  lungs,  or  like  the 
noise  made  by  the  report  of  a  gun  at  a  great  distance.  This  is  consid- 
ered as  a  favorable  omen,  and  the  nation  prepare  for  the  projected  ex- 
pedition with  a  confidence  of  success.    But,  on  tbe  contrary,  should  no 


32 


ANCIENT   ABORIOIXAL   TRADE   IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


sound  be  perocived,  the  i.sano  of  the  expedition  would  bo  considered 
doubtful.''*  This  shell,  it  cannot  bo  doubted,  was  of  uiariue  origin, 
thou{]^h  the  taot  is  not  stated  in  the  text.  The  nearest  sea-coast  from 
which  it  could  have  been  obtained  is  that  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  distant 
about  nine  hundred  miles  from  the  district  inhabited  by  the  Omahas. 

The  white  traders  used  to  <lerive  great  profit  by  selling  fine  sea-shells 
to  the  tribes  of  the  interior.  Ivohl,  for  instance,  learned  from  Canadian 
fur-tra<lers  that  the  Ojibways,  on  Lake  Sui)erior,  formerly  purchased 
sea-shells  from  them  at  considerable  prices.  "  When  they  (the  traders) 
exhibited  a  fine  large  shell,  and  held  it  to  the  ears  of  the  Indians,  these 
latter  were  astonished,  saying  they  heard  the  roaring  of  the  ocean  in  it, 
and  paid  for  such  a  marvelous  shell  furs  to  the  value  of  thirty  or  forty 
dollars,  and  even  more."t 

Having  undertaken  to  compose  this  essay  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
together  a  series  of  facts  relating  to  the  trade  among  the  aborigines  of 
North  America,  I  would  be  guilty  of  an  omission,  if  I  neglected  to  men- 
tion the  wampum-beads,  which,  besides  other  uses,  represented  the 
money  among  them.  The  term  "  wampum"  is  often  applied  to  shell-beads 
in  general,  but  should  be  confined,  I  think,  to  a  certain  class  of  cylindri- 
cal beads,  usually  one-fourth  of  an  inch  long  and  drilled  lengthwise, 
which  were  ehietly  manufactured  from  the  shells  of  the  common  hard- 
shell clam(yenw«  mcrecnaria,  Lin).  This  bivalve  occurring,  as  every 
one  knows,  in  great  abundance  on  the  Xorth  American  coasts,  formed 
an  important  article  of  food  of  the  Indians  living  near  the  sea,  a  fact 
demonstrated  by  the  enormous  quantity  of  castaway  clam-shells,  which 
form  a  considerable  part  of  North  American  Kjoelckenmoeddings,  The 
natives  used  to  string  the  mollusks  and  to  dry  them  for  consumption 
during  winter.  The  blue  or  violet  portions  of  the  clam-shells  furnished 
the  material  for  the  dark  wampum,  which  was  held  in  much  higher  es- 
timation than  that  made  of  the  white  part  of  the  shells,  or  of  the  spines 
of  certain  univales.  Even  at  the  present  time  places  are  jwinted  out  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  for  example  on  that  of  Long  Island,  where  the 
Indians  manufactured  wampum,  and  such  localities  may  be  recognized 
by  the  accumulations  of  clam-shells  from  which  the  blue  portions  are 
broken  off. 

Wamiiura-beads  formed  a  favorite  material  for  the  manufacture  of 
necklaces,  bracelets,  and  other  articles  of  ornament,  and  they  constituted 
the  strings  and  belts  of  wampum,  which  played  such  a  conspicuous  part 
in  Indian  historj*. 

Loskiel  makes  the  following  statement  in  reference  to  wampum :  "  Be- 
fore North  America  was  discovered  by  the  Europeans,  the  Indians 
mostly  made  their  strings  and  belts  of  small  pieces  of  wood,  cut  to  au 
equal  size  and  dyed  white  and  black.    They  made  some  of  shells,  which 

*  Long,  Expedition  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  performed  in  the  years 
1819  and  1820,  London,  1823,  Vol.  II,  p.  47,  «&c. 
t  Kohl,  Kitschi-Gami,  Vol.  I,  p.  186. 


ol 

tl 

w 

tt 

ii 


ANCIENT   ABORKSINAL    TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


33 


thoy  liigbly  ostt'emcd,  but  tlioy  inatinfacturcd  them  very  rarely,  bccauHe 
this  labor  required  much  time  for  want  of  the  proper  tools ;  and  the 
beads,  moreover,  were  of  a  ludo  and  clumsy  appearance.  Soon  after 
their  arrival  in  America,  the  Europeans  began  to  manufacture  wampum 
fromsb'»lls,  very  neatly  and  in  abundance,  exchanging  it  to  the  Indiansfor 
other  comraodities,  thus  carrying  on  a  very  profitable  trade.  The  Indians 
now  abandoned  their  wooden  belts  and  strings,  and  substituted  those 
of  shell.  The  latter,  of  cour8e,.gradualIy  declined  in  value,  but,  never- 
theless, were  and  still  are  much  prized."* 

I  have  litde  faith  in  Loskiel's  statement  that  the  Indians  chiefly  used 
wood  for  the  above-mentioned  purpose,  before  they  had  intercourse  with 
the  whites.  Loskiel  never  visited  America ;  he  composed,  as  he  observes 
in  the  preface,  his  work  from  the  journals  and  reports  of  Protestant 
missionaries,  and  probably  was  totally  unacquainted  with  the  early 
writings  relating  to  North  America,  in  which  wampum  is  mentioned. 
Roger  Williams,  for  example,  who  emigrated  to  North  America  in  UkU, 
is  quite  explicit  on  that  point.  He  states  that  the  Indians  manufaotaro<][ 
white  and  dark  wampum-beads,  and  that  six  of  the  former  and  three  of 
the  latter  were  equivalent  to  an  English  penny.  Yet  it  apix'ar*  that  even 
at  his  time  the  colonists  imitated  the  wampum, and  used  it  iu  their  tra<K> 
with  the  natives.  "  The  Indians,"  he  says,  "  bring  dowuo  all  their  soits 
of  Furs,  which  they  take  in  the  countrey,  both  to  the  Indiana  and  t\>  tho 
English  for  this  Indian  Money :  this  Money  the  English,  French,  »nd 
Dutch,  trade  to  the  Indians,  six  hundred  miles  in  sevemll  parts  ^Norti^ 
and  South  from  New-England)  for  their  Furres,  and  whataoeNV>r  ti>H\v 
stand  in  need  of  from  them :  as  Come,  Venison,  ^c.^t  Similar  stat^^wouts 
are  contained  in  the  writings  and  records  of  various  persons  who  lived 
in  North  America  contemporaneously  with  the  liberal-mimlod  founder 
of  Khode  Island.  Even  in  the  intercourse  of  the  English  colonists 
among  themselves,  wampum  ser\'e(l  at  certain  periotla  instead  of  the 
common  currency,  and  the  courts  of  New  England  issued  from  time  to 
time  regulations  for  fixing  the  money- value  of  the  wampum.  In  trans- 
actions of  some  importance  it  was  measured  by  the  fathom,  the  dark  oi- 
blue  kind  generally  being  double  the  value  of  the  white.J  According; 
to  Roger  WUliams,  the  Indians  of  New  England — he  chiefly  refers  to 
the  Narragansetts — denoted  by  the  term  icompam  (which  signifies  tchiti) 
the  white  beads,  while  they  called  the  dark  kind  suckatihocJe  (from  sdclci, 
black).^  The  great  value  attached  to  wampum  as  an  ornament  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  following  passage  from  the  same  author :  "  They 
hang  these  strings  of  money  about  their  necks  and  wrists ;  as  also  upon 

*  Loskiel,  Mission  dcr  evangolischeu  Briider,  &c.,  p.  34. 

t  Roger  Williams,  A  Key,  &c.,  p.  128. 

\  Interesting  details  concoruiiig  wiiinpnui  are  given  by  Mr.  Stevens  in  "  Flint  Chips," 
London,  1870,  pp.  454-(>4. 

$  Roger  Williams,  1.  c.  p.  130.  In  another  place  (p.  154)  he  gives  the  vrord  tcdmpi  for 
white.     JVampumpeagc, peak,  smwant,  roanok,  were  othe  names  to  signify  wampum. 

3  AA 


34 


ANCIENT  ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


!1 


||: 


m 


tho  Decks  and  wrists  of  their  wives  and  children.  Mdchequoce,  a  Girdle ; 
which  they  make  curiously  of  one,  two,  three,  foure,  and  five  inches 
thicknesse  and  more,  of  this  money  which  (sometimes  to  the  value  often 
pounds  and  more)  they  weare  about  their  middle  and  as  a  scarfe  about 
their  shoulders  and  breasts.  Yea,  the  Princes  make  rich  Caps  and  Aprons 
(or  small  breeches)  of  these  Beads  thus  curiously  strung  into  many  forrues 
and  figures :  their  blacke  and  white  finely  mixt  together."* 

The  wampum-belts,  so  often  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  histo- 
ry of  the  eastern  tribes,  consisted  of  broad  straps  of  leather,  upon  which 
white  and  blue  wampum-beads  were  sewed  in  rows,  being  so  arranged 
that  by  the  contrast  of  the  light  and  dark  colors  certain  figures  were 
produced.  The  Indians,  it  is  well  known,  exchanged  these  belts  at  the 
conclusion  of  peace,  and  on  other  solemn  occasions,  in  order  to  ratify 
the  transaction  and  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  the  event.  When 
sharp  admonitions  or  threatening  demonstrations  were  deemed  neces- 
sary, the  wampum-belts  likewise  played  a  part,  and  they  were  even 
sent  as  challenges  of  war.  In  these  various  cases  the  arrangement  of 
the  colors  and  figures  of  the  belts  corresponded  to  the  object  in  view : 
on  peaceable  occasions  the  white  color  predominated ;  if  the  complica- 
tions were  of  a  serious  character,  the  dark  prevailed ;  and  in  the  case  of 
a  declaration  of  war,  it  is  stated,  the  belt  was  entirely  of  a  somber  hue, 
and,  moreover,  covered  with  red  paint,  while  there  appeared  in  the 
middle  the  figure  of  a  hatchet  executed  in  white.  The  old  accounts, 
however,  are  not  quite  accordant  concerning  these  details,  probably  be- 
cause the  different 'Atlantic  tribes  followed  in  this  particular  their  own 
taste  rather  than  a  general  rule.  At  any  rate,  however,  the  wampum- 
belts  were  considered  as  objects  of  importance,  being,  as  has  been 
stated,  the  tokens  by  which  the  memory  of  remarkable  events  was 
transmitted  to  posterity.  They  were  employed  somewhat  in  the  manner 
of  tlie  Peruvian  quipu,  which  they  also  resembled  in  that  particular, 
that  their  meaning  could  not  be  convej'ed  without  oral  comment.  At 
certain  times  the  belts  were  exhibited,  and  their  relations  to  former 
oiicurrences  explained.  This  was  done  by  the  aged  and  experienced  of 
the  tribe,  in  the  presence  of  young  men,  who  made  themselves  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  the  shape,  size,  and  marks  of  the  belts  as  well 
as  with  the  events  they  were  destined  to  commemorate,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  transmit  these  details  to  others  at  a  future  time.  Thus  the 
wampum-belts  represented  the  archives  of  polished  nations.  Among 
the  Iroquois  tribes,  who  formed  the  celebrated  "league,"  there  was  a 
special  "  keeper  of  the  wampum,"  whose  duty  it  was  to  preserve  the 
belts  and  to  interpret  their  meaning,  when  required.  This  office,  which 
bore  some  resemblance  to  that  of  the  quipu-decipherer  {quipucamayoc) 
of  the  Peruvians,  was  intrusted  to  a  sachem  of  the  Onondagas.t 

In  March,  1864,  a  delegation  of  Iroquois  of  the  State  of  New  York 


•  Ibid.,  p.  131. 

t  Morgan,  League  of  the  I     ^uois,  p.  181. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


35 


own 

puni- 

)een 

was 

b'Uner 

ular, 

At 

rmer 

ed  of 

thor- 

well 

»  be 

the 

ong 

as  a 

the 

hich 

lyoc) 

Tork 


passed  through  New  York  City  on  their  way  to  Washington,  where  they 
intended  to  negotiate  with  the  Government  concerning  former  treaties 
relative  to  their  lands.  They  had  brought  with  them  their  old  wampum- 
belts,  as  documents  to  prove  the  justness  of  their  claims.  One  of  these 
belts,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  had  been  given  them  by  General  Washing- 
ton on  some  important  occasion ;  for  even  the  \.hites  of  that  period  were 
under  the  necessity  of  conforming  to  the  established  rule  in  their  trans- 
actions with  the  natives.  The  New  York  Historical  Society  honored 
these  delegates  with  a  public  reception,  which  ceremony  took  place  in 
the  large  hall  of  the  Society.  The  president  delivered  the  speech  of  wel- 
come, which  an  old  chief,  unable  to  express  himself  in  English,  answered 
in  the  Seneca  dialect.  A  younger  chief,  Dr.  Peter  Wilson,  called  by 
the  people  of  his  tribe  Dejihnon-da-wehhoh,  or  the  "Pacificator,"  served 
as  interpreter,  being  well  versed  in  both  languages.  He  afterward  ex- 
hibited the  belts,  and  explained  their  significance.  They  were,  as  far 
as  I  can  recollect,  about  two  feet  long  and  of  a  band's  breadth.  The 
ground  consisted  of  white  beads,  while  blue  ones  formed  the  figures  or 
marks.  The  latter  resembled  ornamental  designs,  and  I  could  not  dis- 
cover in  them  the  form  of  any  known  object.  I  compared  them  at  the 
time  to  somewhat  roughly  executed  embroideries  of  simple  patterns.  I 
asked  the  "  Pacificator  "  whether  these  belts  were  the  work  of  Indians 
or  of  whites ;  but  he  was  unable  to  give  me  any  definite  information  on 

that  point.* 

I  possess  a  number  of  white  and  blue  wampum-beads  from  an  Indian 
grave,  opened  in  1801,  near  Charlestown,  in  the  State  of  Ehode  island. 
The  late  Dr.  Usher  Parsons,  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  to  whom  I 
am  indebted  for  these  beads,  has  described  the  grave,t  and  thinks  it 
enclosed  the  remains  of  a  daughter  of  Ninigret,  Sachem  of  the  Niantic 
or  Nahantic  tribe  of  Indians.  The  interment  is  supposed  to  have  taken 
place  about  the  year  16G0.  These  beads  are  regularly  worked  cylinders, 
drilled  lengthwise,  and  from  five  to  nine  millimetres  in  length,  by  four 
or  five  in  diameter.  Of  course,  it  cannot  now  be  decided  whether  Indi- 
ans or  whites  were  their  manufacturers.  The  grave  contained  many 
other  objects,  but  almost  without  exception  derived  from  the  colonists 
of  that  period.  I  may  also  state,  in  this  place,  that  thus  far  I  have  not 
found  in  the  oldest  English  works  on  North  America  a  perfectly  satis- 
factory account  of  the  method  originally  employed  by  the  Indians  in 
the  manufacture,  and  especially  in  the  drilling,  of  the  wampum-beads.}: 

Among  the  tribes  of  the  northwestern  coast  of  North  America,  from 

*  This  is  tbo  same  chief  who  delivered,  in  1847,  before  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  a  powerful  speech,  qnoted  by  Morgan,  (League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  440).  The 
chiefs  name  was  then  Wd-o-tco-xcd-nd-onk. 

t  New  York  Historical  Magazine,  February,  1863. 

t "  Before  ever  they  had  awle  blades  from  Europe,  they  made  shift  to  bore  this  their 
shell  money,  with  stones,  and  to  fell  their  trees  with  stone  set  in  a  wooden  staff,  and 
used  wooden  towes ;  which  some  old  and  pooro  women  (fearfuU  to  leave  the  old  tradi- 
tion) use  to  this  day." — Roger  Williams,  Key,  p.  130. 


36 


ANCIENT   ABOKIGINAL    TRADE   IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


?! 


the  northern  border  of  California  far  upward  to  the  north,  the  shells  of 
the  Dentalium  represented,  until  within  the  latest  time,  the  wampum  of 
the  Atlantic  region,  being  used,  like  the  latter,  both  as  ornament  and 
money.  These  shells,  which  abound  in  certain  places  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  may  be  likened  to  small,  tapering,  and  somewhat  curved  tubes. 
Being  open  at  both  ends,  they  can  be  strung  without  further  prepara- 
tion. As  my  essay  relates  only  to  that  portion  of  North  America  which 
lies  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  I  probably  would  not  have  mentioned 
the  use  of  Dentalium-shells,  were  it  aot  for  the  fact  that  they  have 
been  found  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  far  from  the  Pacific  coast,  as 
personal  oruament  of  existing  tribes,  and  even  in  the  ancient  mounds  of 
Ohio.*    The  latter  fact,  indeed,  is  of  interest  in  its  bearing  on  the 

extent  of  former  aboriginal  trade-re)  ^s,  the  distance  from  the  Pacific 
to  the  State  of  Ohio  being  almost  equal  to  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
North  American  contiuent.t 

PEARLS. 

Perforated  pearls,  destined  to  serve  as  beads,  often  form  a  part  of  the 
contents  of  ancient  North  American  mounds.  Squier  and  Davis  found 
them  on  the  hearths  of  five  distinct  groups  of  mounds  in  Ohio,  and 
sometimes  in  such  abundance  that  they  could  be  gathered  by  the  hun- 
dred. Most  of  them  had  greatly  suffered  by  the  action  of  fire,  being  in 
many  cases  so  calcined  that  they  crumbled  when  handled ;  yet,  several 
hundred  were  found  suflftciently  well  preserved  to  permit  of  their  being 
strung.  The  pearls  in  question  are  generally  of  irregular  form,  mostly 
pear-shaped,  though  perfectly  round  ones  are  also  among  them.  The 
smaller  specimens  measure  about  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  but 
the  largest  has  a  diameter  of  no  less  than  three-fourths  of  an  inch.| 
According  to  Squier  and  Davis,  pearl-bearing  shells  occur  in  the  rivers 
of  the  region  whose  antiquities  they  describe,  but  not  in  such 
abundance  that  they  could  have  furnished  the  amount  discovered  in 
the  tumali ;  and  the  pearls  of  these  fluviatile  shells,  moreover,  are  said 
to  be  far  inferior  in  size  to  those  recovered  from  the  altars.  The  latter, 
they  think,  were  derived  from  the  Atlantic  coast  and  from  that  of  the 
Mexican  Gulf.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Indians,  who  inhabited  the  present 
Southern  States  of  the  Union,  made  an  extensive  use  of  pearls  for 
ornamental  purposes.  This  is  attested  by  the  earliest  accounts,  and  more 
especially  by  the  chroniclers  of  De  Soto's  expedition  (the  anonymous 
Portuguese  gentleman  and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega),  who"  speak  of  almost 
fabulous  quantities  of  pearls,  which  that  daring  leader  and  his  followers 


*  Stov«Mi.s,  Flint  Cbips,  p.  468. 

t  Since  writing  the  above,  I  learned,  by  consnlting  WoodwauVs  work  on  conchology, 
tbat  the  DentaUiim  ia  also  found  *a  the  West  Indies.  If  it  should  likewise  occur  un  the 
Bonthern  coasts  of  the  United  States,  there  is  at  least  a  possibility  that  the  speciDieus 
found  iu  Ohio  may  have  been  obtained  from  the  last-named  region. 

t  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  'i'Si 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN  NORTH  A^IERICA. 


37 


saw  among  the  Indians  of  the  parts  traversed  by  them.  Pearls,  how- 
ever, belonged  to  the  things  most  desired  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the 
accounts  relating  to  them,  perhaps,  may  be  somewhat  exaggerated.  The 
following  passage  from  Garcilasvso  de  la  Vega  is  of  particular  interest: 
"  While  De  Soto  sojourned  in  the  province  of  Ichiaha,*  the  cacique 
visited  him  one  day,  and  gave  him  a  string  of  pearls  about  two  fathoms 
i^leux  hrasses)  long.  This  present  might  have  been  considered  a  valu- 
able one,  if  the  pearls  had  not  been  pierced ;  for  they  were  all  of  equal 
size  and  as  large  as  hazle-nuts.t  Soto  acknowledged  this  favor  by  pre- 
senting the  Indian  with  some  pieces  of  velvet  and  cloth,  which  were 
highly  appreciated  by  the  latter.  He  then  asked  him  concerning  the 
pearl-fishing,  upon  which  he  replied  that  this  was  done  in  his  province. 
A  great  number  of  pearls  were  stored  in  the  temple  of  the  town  of 
Ichiaha,  where  his  ancestors  were  buried,  and  he  might  take  as  many 
of  them  as  he  pleased.  The  general  expressed  his  obligation,  but  ob- 
served that  he  would  take  away  nothing  from  the  temple,  and  that  he 
had  accepted  his  present  only  to  please  him.  He  wished  to  learn,  how- 
ever, in  what  manner  the  pearls  were  extracted  from  the  shells.  The 
cacique  replied  that  he  would  send  out  people  to  fish  for  pearls  all  night, 
and  on  the  following  day  at  eight  o'clock  {sic)  his  wish  should  be  grati- 
fied. He  ordered  at  once  four  boats  to  be  dispatched  for  pearl-fishing, 
which  should  be  back  in  the  morning.  In  the  mean  time  much  wood 
was  burned  on  the  bank,  producing  a  large  quantity  of  glowing  coals. 
When  the  boats  had  returned,  the  shells  were  placed  on  the  hot  coals, 
and  they  opened  in  consequence  of  the  heat.  In  the  very  first,  ten  or 
twelve  pearls  of  the  size  of  a  pea  were  found,  and  handed  to  the 
cacique  and  the  general,  who  were  present.  They  thought  them  very 
fine,  though  the  fire  had  partly  deprived  them  of  their  lustre.  When 
the  general  had  satisfied  his  curiosity,  he  retired  to  take  his  dinner. 
While  thus  engaged,  a  soldier  came  in,  who  told  him  that  in  eating  some 
of  the  oysters  caught  by  the  Indians,  a  very  fine  and  brilliant  pearl  had 
got  between  his  teeth,  and  he  begged  him  to  accept  it  as  a  present  for  the 
governess  of  Cuba.f  Soto  very  civilly  refused  the  present,  but  assured 
the  soldier  that  he  was  just  as  much  obliged  to  him  as  though  he  had 
accepted  his  gift :  he  would  try  to  reward  him  one  day  for  his  kindness 
and  for  the  regard  he  was  showing  to  his  wife.  He  advised  him  to  keep 
his  (intended)  present,  and  to  buy  horses  for  it  at  Havana.  The  Span- 
iards, who  were  with  the  general  at  that  moment,  examined  the  pearl  of 
this  soldier,  and  some,  who  considered  themselves  as  experts  in  the  mat- 
ter of  jewelry,  thought  it  was  worth  four  hundred  ducats.    It  had  re- 

•  The  province  and  town  of  Iciaba,  or  Icbiaba,  have  been  located  in  tbat  part  of  North- 
ern Georgia  where  the  Oostanaula  and  Etowah  rivers  unite,  and  form  the  Coosa  river. 
(See  Theodore  Irving's  "  Conquest  of  Florida,"  second  edition,  p.  242  ;  also  McCuUoh's 
"  Researches,"  p.  525.) 

t  The  Indians  used  to  pierce  them  with  a  heated  copper  wire,  a  process  by  which  they 
were  spoiled. 

IDoQa  Isabel  de  Bobadilla,  De  Soto's  wife. 


38 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL    TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


having 


been  extracted   by  means  of 


tained  ifes  original  lustre,  not 
fire."* 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  Indians  obtained  their  pearls,  in  part 
at  least,  from  their  river-mnscles,  many  of  which  are  known  to  be 
margaritiferous.t  These  mollusks  undoubtedly  were  used  as  food  by 
the  aborigines,  who  atealligators,  snakes,  and  other  animals  less  tempt- 
ing thau  tho  contents  of  fluviatile  shells.  Indeed,  I  learned  from  i)v. 
Briuton,  who  Avas  attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  during  the 
late  civil  war,  that  muscles  of  the  Tennessee  river  were  occasionally 
eaten  "  as  a  change "  by  the  soldiers  of  that  corps,  and  pronounced  no 
bad  article  of  diet.  Shells  of  the  Unio  are  sometimes  found  in  Indian 
graves,  where  they  had  been  deposited  with  the  dead,  to  serve  as  food 
during  the  journey  to  the  land  of  spirits.  In  many  parts  of  the  Xorth 
American  inland  heaps  of  fresh-water  shells  are  seen,  indicating  the 
places  where  the  natives  feasted  upon  the  mollusks.  Atwater  has  drawn 
attention  to  such  accumulations  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum,  in 
Ohio.J  Ueaps  of  muscle-shells  may  be  seen  in  Alabama,  along  the 
rivers  wherever  Indians  used  to  live.  Thousands  of  the  shells  lie 
banked  up,  some  deep  in  the  groimd.§  Dr.  Brinton  saw  ou  the  Tennes- 
see river  and  its  tributaries  numerous  shell-heaps,  consisting  almost 
exclusively  of  the  Unio  riniiniamts  (Lamarck  ?)•  In  all  instances  he 
found  the  shell-heaps  close  to  the  water-courses,  on  the  rich  alluvial 
bottom-lands.  "  Tlie  mollusks,"  he  says,  "  had  evidently  been  opened 
by  placing  them  on  a  fire.  The  Tennessee  muscle  is  magaritiferous,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  but  that  it  was  from  this  species  that  the  early  tribes 
obtained  the  hoards  of  pearls  whieh  the  historians  of  De  Soto's  explor- 
ation estimated  by  bushels,  and  which  were  so  nuich  prized  as  orna- 
ments. It  is  still  a  profitable  emi)loyment,  the  jewelers  buying  them 
at  i)riees  varying  from  one  to  fifty  dollars."||  Kjoekkenmoeddhigs  on  the 
St.  John's  river,  in  Florida,  consisting  of  river-shells,  were  examined 
by  Professor  Wyman,  and  described  by  him;  he  saw, similar  accumula- 
tions on  the  banks  of  the  Concord  river  in  Massachusetts,  and  was  in- 
formed by  eye-witnesses  that  thev  are  luimerous  in  California.tl  Ou 
Stalling's  Island,  in  the  Savanniib  river,  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
above  its  mouth,  there  stands  a  monud  of  elliptical  shape,  chiefly  com- 
posed of  the  muscles,  ehims,  and  snail-shells  of  the  river.     This  tumu- 

*  Gurcilusso  de  la  Vega,  Conquete  dc  la  Floride,  Vol.  II,  p.  296. 

t  As  Mr.  Isaac  Lea,  of  Philadelphia,  informs  me,  pearls  are  found  in  various  species 
of  the  Unionida,  more  frequently  in  Unio  complanatus,  Margaritana  viargaritifera,  and 
Jnotlonta  fluviatiUa.  But  they  occur  occasionally  in  all  the  species  of  this  family.  Very 
large  and  valuable  pearls  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey. 

t  Archffiologia  Americana,  Vol.  i,  p.  226. 

J  Pickett,  History  of  Alabama,  Charleston,  1851,  Vol.  I  p.  12. 

B  Brinton,  Artificial  Shell-Deposits  iu  the  United  States,  Smithsonian  Report  for 
1866,  p.  357. 

f  Wyman,  Fresh-Water  Shell-Heaps  of  the  St.  Johji's  River,  East  Florida,  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  1868,  p.  6. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE    IN    NORTH    AMERICA. 


39 


for 
lem, 


lus,  which  is  aboutthreehun(lre(lfeetlong,one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
wide,  and,  perhaps,  over  twenty  feet  high,  was  found  to  contain  a  large 
number  of  skeletons.  "  Several  pits  have  been  opened  in  the  northeast- 
ern end.  At  the  depth  of  twelve  feet  the  amount  of  shells  was  undi- 
minished. They  appear  to  have  been  distributed  in  layers  of  eight  or 
ten  inches  in  thickness,  with  intervening  strata  of  sand.  An  examina- 
tion into  the  contents  of  the  mound  proves  conclusively  that  it  must 
have  been  used  only  for  burial  purposes ;  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a  huge  ne- 
cropolis. It  could  not  have  been  the  work  of  a  year,  or  of  a  generation. 
Stratum  upon  stratum  has  been  heaped,  each  covering  the  dead  of  its 
age,  until  by  degrees,  and  with  the  lapseof  time,  it  grew  into  its  present 
surprising  dimensions."* 

It  is  probable  that  the  natives  of  North  America  obtained  pearls, 
both  from  fluviatile  and  marine  shells,  and  further  that  they  caught 
the  bivalves,  not  solely  on  account  of  the  pearls  they  inclosed,  but  for 
using  them  as  food.  The  pearls  themselves,  in  all  likelihood,  were 
looked  upon  as  additional,  highly  valued  gifts  of  nature. 

DIVISION  OF  LABOR. 

■  Among  tlie  later  Indians,  at  least  those  who  lived  east  of  the  Kocky 
Mountains,  nearly  all  work  was  performed  by  women.  When,  during 
times  of  peace,  tlie  master  of  a  lodge  had  supplied  his  family  with  the 
game  necessary  for  its  support,  he  thought  to  be  relieved  of  further 
duties,  and  abandoned  himself  either  to  indolence  or  to  his  favorite 
pastimes,  such  as  games  of  hazard,  and  exercises  calculated  to  im))art 
strength  and  agility  to  the  body.  He  manufactured,  however,  his  arms 
and  kept  them  in  repair,  and  also  condescended  to  work,  when  a  larger 
object,  a  canoe  for  instance,  was  to  be  made,  or  a  dwelling  to  be  con- 
structed. Far  more  varied,  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  duties  imposed 
upon  women.  Not  only  had  they  to  procure  water  and  tire-wood,  to 
prepare  the  meals,  to  collect  the  fruits  serving  as  winter  provisions,  to 
make  moccasins  and  other  articles  of  dress,  but  it  was  also  incumbent  upon 
them  to  perform  many  other  labors,  which,  from  their  nature,  would  seem 
to  be  more  suited  for  men.  Thus,  the  lields  were  cultivated  by  women  ;t 
they  dressed  the  skins  to  fit  them  for  garments  and  other  jjurposes ; 
the  manufacture  of  pottery  was  a  branch  of  female  industry ;  they  did 
the  principal  work  in  the  erection  of  the  huts  or  tents  (of  skins,  mats 
or  bark),  and  their  assistance  was  even  required  when  canoes,  especially 
those  of  bark,  were  made.  During  the  march  they  carried  heavy  loads, 
and  on  the  water  they  handled  the  paddle  as  skilfully  as  tlie  men.  If 
to  all  those  tasks  and  toils  the  bringing  up  of  children  is  added,  the  lot 
of  the  Indian  woman  appears  by  no  means  an  enviable  one,  though  slio 
bore  her  burden  patiently,  not  being  accustomed  to  a  diff'erent  manner 
of  existence.    She  was,  indeed,  hardly  more  than  the  servant  of  her  lord 


'$1 


*  Jones  (Charles  C),  Mouumental  Remains  of  Georgia,  Savannah,  1H61,  p.  14. 
t  Also,  to  some  extent,  by  enslaved  prisoners  of  war. 


40 


ANCIE:?T   aboriginal   trade   in   north   AMERICA. 


:i' 


and  master,  who  frequeutly  lived  in  a  state  of  polygamy  merely  for  com- 
manding more  assistance  in  his  domestic  affairs. 

Such  were  the  occupations  of  Indian  men  and  women  in  general.  Nev- 
ertheless, there  are  indications  that  the  germs  of  handicrafts  already 
existed  among  the  North  American  tribes,  or,  to  speak  more  distinctly, 
that  certain  individuals  of  the  male  sex,  who  were,  by  natural  inclina- 
tion or  practice,  particularly  qualified  for  a  distinct  kind  of  manual  labor, 
devoted  themselves  principally  or  entirely  to  this  labor.  I  refer,  of 
course,  to  the  period  anteceding  the  occupation  of  the  country  by  Euro- 
peans— that  period  about  which  so  little  is  known,  that  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  still  existing  earth-works,  and  of  the  minor  products  of 
industry  left  by  the  former  inhabitants,  affords  the  principal  guidance 
in  the  ir  tc  :  to  determine  their  mode  of  existence.  The  earliest  writ- 
ings OQ  North  America  are  exceedingly  deficient  in  those  details  which 
are  of  interest  to  the  aichteologist,  and  form,  as  it  were,  his  points  of 
departure ;  and  it  becomes  therefore  necessary  to  adopt  here,  in  the 
pursuit  of  archaeological  investigation,  the  same  system  of  careful  in- 
quiry and  ('^  ^.•'^'.j.r.  that  has  been  so  successfully  employed  in  Europe. 
The  only  differ  ic^  is.  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the  world  "prehistoric 
times"  reach  lick  /iKUSinds  of  years  into  the  remotest  antiquity,  while 
in  Arerica  a  compaia'vy  recent  period  must  be  drawn  within  the 
precinc*^  of  anliqiii  rian  j   •     rcli. 

Any  one  who  examiui  s  .i,  c  "••  -^ion  of  North  American  chipped  flint 
implenyents  will  notice  quite  rinie  and  clumsy  specimens,  but  also,  along- 
side of  these,  others  of  great  regularity  and  exquisite  finish,  which  could 
only  have  been  fashioned  by  practised  workers  in  flint.  This  applies  par- 
ticularly to  the  points  of  arrows  and  lances,  some  of  which  are  so  sharp  and 
pointed  that  they,  when  properly  shafted,  almost  would  be  as  effectual  as 
iron  ones.  In  fact,  the  oldest  Spanish  writings  contain  marvelous  ac- 
counts of  the  penetrating  force  of  the  flint-pointed  arrows  used  by  the 
Indians  of  Florida  in  their  encounters  with  the  whites.  Not  every  warrior, 
it  may  be  presumed,  was  able  to  make  stone-points,  especially  those  of  a 
sui)erior  kind,  this  labor  requiring  a  skill  that  could  only  be  attained  by 
long  practice.  There  were  doubtless  certain  persons  among  the  various 
tribes  who  practised  arrow-making  as  a  profession,  and  disposed  of 
their  manufactures  by  way  of  exchange.  In  reference  to  this  subject 
Mr.  Schoolcraft  observes  as  follows :  "  A  hunter,  or  warrior,  it  is  true, 
expected  to  make  his  own  arms  or  implements,  yet  the  manufacture  of 
flint  and  hornstone  into  darts  and  spears  and  arrowheads  demanded  too 
much  skill  and  mechanical  dexterity  for  the  generality  of  the  Indians  to 
succeed  in.  According  to  the  Ojibway  tradition,  before  the  introduction 
of  fire-arms,  there  was  a  class  of  men  among  the  northern  tribes  who  were 
called  makers  of  arrowheads.  They  selected  proper  stones,  and  devoted 
themselves  to  this  art,  taking  in  exchange  for  their  manufactures,  the 
skins  and  flesh  of  animals."  According  to  Colonel  Jones,  the  tradition 
has  been  preserved  in  Georgia  "  that  among  the  Indians  who  inhabited 


A.NCIENT    ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


41 


» 


tbe  mountains,  there  was  a  certain  number  or  class  who  devoted  their 
time  and  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  these  darts.  That  as  soon  as 
they  had  prepared  a  general  supply,  they  left  their  mountain  homes  and 
visited  the  sea-board  and  intermediate  localities,  exchanging  their  spear 
and  arrowheads  for  other  articles  not  to  be  readily  obtained  in  the  region 
where  they  inhabited.  The  further  fact  is  stated  that  these  persons 
never  mingled  in  the  excitements  of  war ;  that  to  them  a  free  passport 
was  at  all  times  granted,  even  among  tribes  actually  at  variance  with 
that  of  which  they  were  members ;  that  their  avocation  was  esteemed 
honorable,  and  they  themselves  treated  with  universal  hospitality.  If 
such  was  the  case,  it  was  surely  a  remarkable  and  interesting  recogni- 
tion of  the  claims  of  the  manufacturer  by  an  untutored  race."  * 

In  a  former  section  I  have  mentioned  a  Californian  Indian  of  the 
Shasta  tribe,  who  was  seen  making  arrowheads  of  obsidian  by  Mr.  Caleb 
Lyon.  "  The  Indian,"  he  says,  *'  seated  himself  on  the  floor,  and,  placing 
a  stone  anvil  upon  his  knee,  which  was  of  compact  talcose  slate,  with 
one  blow  of  his  agate  chisel  he  separated  the  obsidian  pebble  into  two 
parts,  then  giving  another  blow  to  the  fractured  side  he  split  off  a  slab 
a  fourth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  Holding  the  piece  against  the  anvil 
with  the  thumb  and  finger  of  his  left  hand,  he  commenced  a  series  of 
continuous  blows,  every  one  of  which  chipped  off  fragments  of  the  brittle 
substance.  It  gradually  assumed  the  required  shape.  After  finishing 
the  base  of  the  arrowhead  (the  whole  being  only  a  little  over  an  inch 
in  length)  he  began  striking  gentler  blows,  every  one  of  which  I  expected 
would  break  it  into  pieces.  Yet  such  was  their  adroit  application,  his 
skill  and  dexterity,  that  in  little  over  an  hour  ho  produced  a  perfect 
obsidian  arrowhead.  Among  them  arrow-making  is  a  distinct  trade  or 
profession,  which  many  attempt,  but  in  which  few  attain  excellence.''^  t 

Another  method  of  arrow-making  practised  by  the  Californian  tribes 
is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Edward  E.  Chever  in  an  article  published  in  the 
"  American  Naturalist,"  May,  1870.  He  has  figured  the  implement  used 
in  the  process  (p.  139).  "  The  arrow-head,"  he  says,  "  is  held  in  the  left 
hand  while  the  nick  in  the  side  of  the  tool  is  used  as  a  nipper  to  chip 
off  small  fragments." 

Mr.  Catlin  gives  an  interesting  and  full  account  of  the  manufacture  of 
arrowheads  among  the  Apaches  and  other  tribes  living  west  of  or  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  The  following  extract  contains  his  principal  state- 
ments :  "  Erratic  boulders  of  flint  are  collected  (and  sometimes  brought 
au  immense  distance)  and  broken  with  a  sort  of  sledge-hammer  made  of 
a  rounded  pebble  of  hornstone,  set  in  a  twisted  withe,  holding  the  stone 
and  forming  a  handle.  The  flint,  at  the  indiscriminate  blows  of  the 
sledge,  is  broken  into  a  hundred  pieces.  The  master-workman,  seated 
on  the  ground,  lays  one  of  these  flakes  on  the  palm  of  his  left  hand, 

•Jones  (Charles  C.)»  Indian  Remains  iu  Southern  Georgia.    Address  delivered  before 
the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  Savannah,  1859,  p.  19. 
t  Bulletin  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  Nevr  York,  18C1,  Vol.  I,  p.  39. 


42 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


holding  it  firmly  down  with  two  or  more  Angers  of  the  same  hand,  and 
with  his  right  hand,  between  the  thumb  and  two  forefingers  places  his 
chisel  or  punch*  on  the  point  that  is  to  be  broken  off" ;  and  a  co- 
operator  (a  striker)  silting  in  front  of  hira,  with  a  mallet  of  very  hard 
wood,  strikes  the  chisel  on  the  upper  end,  flaking  the  flint  off  on  the 
under  side,  below  each  projecting  point  that  is  struck.  The  flint  is 
fhen  turned  and  chipped  in  the  same  manner  from  the  opposite  side ; 
and  so  turned  and  chipped  until  the  required  shape  and  dimensions  are 
obtained,  all  fractures  being  made  on  the  palm  of  the  hand,  whose 
yielding  elasticity  enables  the  chip  to  come  off  without  breaking  the 
body  of  the  flint,  which  would  be  the  case  if  they  were  broken  on  a 
hard  substance.  This  operation  is  very  curious,  both  the  holder  and  the 
striker  singing,  and  the  strokes  of  the  mallet  given  exactly  in  time  with 
the  music,  and  with  a  sharp  and  rebounding  blow,  in  which,  the  Indians 
tell  us,  is  the  great  medicine  (or  mystery)  of  the  operation.  Every  tribe 
has  its  factory  In  which  these  arrowheads  are  made,  and  in  those  only 
certain  adepts  arc  able  or  alloived  to  malce  them  for  the  use  of  the  tribe.^^i 

Thus  tradition  as  well  as  modern  experience  justify  the  belief  that 
the  manufacture  of  arrow  and  spearheads  was  formerly  carried  on  as  a 
craft  by  certain  individuals  of  the  North  American  tribes,  and  Longfel- 
low's "Ancient  Arrow-maker,"  therefore,  is  not  a  mythical  person,  but 
the  ideal  type  of  a  class  of  men  whose  art  flourished  in  bj-gone  times. 

The  skilfully  executed  agricultural  flint  implements  of  East  St. 
Louis,  described  by  me  in  the  Smithsonian  Eeport  for  1868,  have  alto- 
gether the  appearance  as  if  one  hand  had  fashioned  them.  Is  it  not 
probable  that  they  formed  the  magazine  of  an  aboriginal  artisan,  who 
devoted  his  time  chiefly  to  the  manufacture  of  such  tools  ?  The  making 
of  wampum  and  of  shell-beads  in  general  may  have  formed  a  trade 
among  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  sea-board ;  for  this  labor  required  much 
time  and  promised  success  only  to  those  who,  by  long  practice,  had 
attained  skill  in  the  operation.  The  supposition  gains  some  ground  by 
an  observation  of  Roger  Williams,  who  states  that  "  most  on  the  Sea 
side  make  Money  and  Store  up  shells  in  Summer  against  Winter  whereof 
to  make  their  money."  He  further  observes  on  the  same  page :  "  They 
have  some  who  follow  onely  making  of  Bowes,someATrowes,  some  Dishes 
(and  the  women  make  all  their  Earthen  Vessells,)  some  follow  fishing, 
some  hunting."! 

The  most  remarkable  productions  of  ancient  aboriginal  industry  are 
the  carved  stone  pipes  of  peciiliar  shape  exhumed  by  Messrs.  Squier 
and  Davis  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio,  and  minutely  described  and  fig- 
ured by  them  in  the  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.§" 

*  Six  or  seveu  iucbes  in  leugtli,  and  made  of  an  incisor  of  the  8i)erm-whale,  often 
Btranded  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific, 
t  Catlin,  Last  Rambles  amongst  the  Indians,  New  York,  18G7,  p.  187,  &c. 
i  Roger  Williams,  A  Key,  &c.,  p.  133. 
5  Chapter  XV,  Sculptures  from  the  Mounds,  pp.  248-278. 


» 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


43 


i 


Four  miles  north  of  Cbillicotlie,  Ohio,  there  lies,  close  to  the  Scioto 
river,  an  embankment  of  earth  somewhat  in  the  shape  of  a  square 
with  strongly  rounded  angles,  and  enclosing  an  area  of  thirteen  acres, 
over  which  twenty-three  mounds  are  scattered  without  much  regularity. 
This  work  has  been  called  "  Mound  City,"  from  the  great  number  of 
mounds  within  its  walls.  In  digging  into  the  mounds,  Squier  and 
Davis  discovered  hearths  in  many  of  them,  which  furnished  a  great 
number  of  aboriginal  relics.  From  one  of  the  hearths  nearly  two  hun- 
dred of  those  peculiar  stone  pipes  were  taken,  many  of  them,  unfortu- 
nately, cracked  by  the  action  of  the  fire,  and  otherwise  damaged.  The 
occurrence  of  these  "  mound-pipes,"  however,  was  not  confined  to  the 
mound  in  question,  similar  ones  having  occasionally  been  found  else- 
where. In  the  more  elaborate  pipes  from  Mound  City,  the  bowl  is  some- 
times formed  in  imitation  of  the  human  head,  but  generally  of  the  body 
of  an  animal,  and  iu  the  latter  cases  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the 
species  which  have  served  as  models  are  frequently  expressed  with  sur- 
prising fidelity.  The  following  m.ammals  have  been  recognized :  the 
beaver,  otter,  elk,  bear,  wolf,  dog,  panther,  wild  cat,  raccoon,  opossum, 
squirrel,  and  sea-cow  (Manati,  Lamantiu,  Trichecus  manatus,  Lin.). 
Of  the  last-named  animal,  no  less  than  seven  representations  were 
found,  a  circumstance  deserving  particular  notice,  because  this  inhabit- 
ant of  tropical  waters  is  not  met  in  the  higher  latitudes  of  North  Amer- 
ica, but  only  on  the  coast  of  Florida,  which  is  many  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant from  Ohio.  The  Florida  Indians  called  this  animal  the  "  big 
beaver,"  and  hunted  it  on  account  of  its  flesh  and  bones.*  Most  fre- 
quent are  carvings  of  birds,  among  which  the  eagle,  hawk,  falcon,  tur- 
key-buzzard, heron,  several  species  of  owls,  the  raveu,  swallow,  paro- 
quet, duck,  and  other  land  and  water-birds,  have  been  recognized.  One 
of  the  specimens  is  supposed  to  represent  the  toucan,  a  tropical  bird 
not  inhabiting  the  United  States.  Worthy  of  particular  mention  as  a 
well-executed  sculpture  is  a  species  of  eagle  or  hawk  in  the  attitude  oi 
tearing  a  smaller  bird  held  in  its  claws ;  and  so  is  that  of  the  tufted 
heron  feeding  on  a  fish.  The  amphibious  animals,  likewise,  have  their 
representatives  in  the  snake,  toad,  frog,  turtle,  and  alligator.  One  spe- 
cimen shows  a  snake  that  winds  itself  around  the  bowl  of  the  pipe. 
The  toads,  in  particular,  are  very  faithful  imitations  of  nature.  Indeed, 
it  is  said  in  the  "Ancient  Monuments  "  that,  if  placed  in  the  grass  be- 
fore an  unsuspecting  observer,  they  would  probably  be  mistaken  for 
the  natural  objects ;  and  this  statement  is  in  no  way  exaggerated,  as 
every  one  will  admit  who  has  seen  the  specimens  iu  question.  The  bird- 
figure  supposed  to  represent  the  toucan,  I  think,  is  not  of  sufficient  dis- 
tinctness to  identify  the  original  that  was  before  the  artist's  mind ;  it 
would  not  be  safe,  therefore,  to  make  this  specimen  the  subject  of  far- 
reaching  speculations.    For  the  rest,  the  imitated  animals  belong,  with- 


Bartram,  Travels,  Dul)liu,  1793,  p.  229. 


44 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRAUK   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


I  i 


out  exception,  to  the  North  American  fauna ;  and  there  is,  moreover, 
the  greatest  probability  that  the  sculptures  in  question  were  made  in  or 
near  the  present  State  of  Ohio,  where,  in  corroboration  of  the  last  sup- 
position, a  few  unfinished  specimens  have  occurred  among  the  complete 
articles.  The  discovery  of  the  manati-flgures,  however,  is  in  so  far  of 
interest  as  it  indicates  a  communication  between  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Ohio  and  those  of  the  Floridian  coast-region. 

It  was  formerly  believed  most  of  these  pipes  were  composed  of  a  kind 
of  porphyry ;  but  since  their  transfer  to  the  Blackmore  Museum,  they 
were  carefully  examined  and  partly  analysed  by  Professor  A.  II.  Church, 
who  found  them  to  consist  of  softer  materials.*  Nevertheless,  they 
constitute  the  most  remarkable  class  of  Indian  products  of  art  thus  far 
discovered,  for  some  of  them  are  so  skilfully  executed  that  a  modern 
artist,  notwithstanding  his  far  superior  instruments,  would  find  no  little 
difficulty  in  reproducing  them.  The  manufacture  of  stone  pipes,  neces- 
sarily a  painful  and  tedious  labor,  therefore  may  have  formed  a  branch 
of  aboriginal  industry,  and  the  skilful  pipe-carver  probably  occupied 
among  the  former  Indians  a  rank  equal  to  that  of  the  experienced 
sculptor  in  our  time.  Even  among  modern  Indians  pipe-makers  some- 
times have  been  met.  Thus,  Dr.  Wilson  mentions  an  old  Ojibway  In- 
dian, whose  name  is  Pahahmesad,  or  the  "  Flier,"  but  who,  from  his 
skill  in  making  pipes,  is  more  commonly  known  as  Ficahguncka — "  he 
makes  pipes."t  Kohl,  also,  speaks  of  an  Ojibway  pipe-maker  whom  he 
met  on  Lake  Supierior.  "  There  are  persons  among  them,"  he  says, 
"  who  i)ossess  particular  skill  in  the  carving  of  pipes,  and  make  it  their 
profession,  or  at  least  the  means  of  gaining  in  part  their  livelihood.  I 
made  the  acquaintance  of  such  afaiseur  de  calumet,  and  visited  him 
occasionally.  He  inlaid  his  pipes  very  tastefully  with  figures  of  stars 
and  flowers  of  black  and  white  stones.  But  his  work  proceeded  very 
slowly,  and  he  sold  his  pipes  at  high  prices,  from  four  to  five  dollars 
apiece.    Yet  the  Indians  sometimes  pay  much  higher  prices."  J 

In  addition  to  the  articles  thus  far  enumerated,  others  may  have  been 
manufactured  more  or  less  extensively  by  way  of  trade ;  but,  in  defalult 
of  corroborating  data,  we  mast  rest  satisfied  with  the  supposition  that 
such  was  the  case.  European  archaeologists,  in  estimating  the  condi- 
tions of  prehistoric  races  of  the  Old  World,  have  derived  much  aid  from 
inquiries  into  the  modes  of  life  among  still-existing  primitive  popula- 
tions of  foreign  parts.  The  same  system  may  be  applied  in  antiquarian 
researches  relative  to  North  America,  where  the  customs  and  manners 
of  the  yet  lingering  aboriginal  population  can  be  brought  into  requisi- 
tion for  elucidating  the  past.  Thus,  some  statements  made  by  Mr. 
James  G.  Swan,  in  a  recent  work  on  the  Makah  Indians  of  Cape  Flat- 
tery, (published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institute,)  are  of  great  interest  in 

*  Church,  iu  "Flint  Chips,"  p.  414. 

t  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man,  Loud.,  1882,  Vol.  II,  p.  15. 

t  Kohl,  Kitschi-Gami,  Vol.  II,  p.  82. 


ANCIENT   ABORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 


45 


connection  with  the  object  treated  in  this  article.  "  The  manufacture 
of  implements,"  he  says,  "  is  practised  by  all ;  some,  however,  produc- 
ing neater  articles,  are  more  employed  in  this  way.  The  manufacture 
of  whaling  implements,  particularly  the  staff  of  the  harpoon  and  the 
harpoou-head,  is  confined  to  individuals  who  dispose  of  them  to  the 
others.  This  is  also  the  case  with  rope-making ;  although  all  under- 
stand the  process,  some  are  peculiarly  expert,  and  generally  do  the  most 
of  the  work.  Canoe-making  is  another  branch  that  is  confined  to  cer- 
tain persons  who  have  more  skill  than  others  in  forming  the  model  and 
in  finishing  the  work.  Although  they  do  not  seem  to  have  regular 
trades  in  these  manufactures,  yet  the  most  expert  principally  confine 
themselves  to  certain  branches.  Some  are  quite  skilful  in  working  iron 
and  copper,  others  in  carving  or  in  painting,  while  others  again  nre 
more  expert  in  catching  fish  or  killing  whales."* 

It  is  true,  the  conditions  of  existence  of  a  northern  tribe  bordering  on 
the  Pacific  coast  cannot  serve  as  a  standard  for  the  populations  for- 
merly inhabiting  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  or  the  Atlantic 
sea-board ;  yet,  that  the  latter  were  led  by  similar  motives,  in  regard  to 
the  division  of  labor,  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  observations  and 
extracts  given  in  this  sketch. 


i 


m 


CONCLUSION. 

In  the  preceding  series  of  {irticles  I  have  almost  exclusively  referred 
to  manufactures^  and  among  these,  of  course,  only  to  such  as  could, 
from  their  nature,  resist  the  destroying  influence  of  time.  Yet,  it  can- 
not be  doubted  that  articles  consisting  of  less  durable  materials,  for 
instance,  dressed  skins,  basket-work,  mats,  wooden  ware,  &c.,  formed 
objects  of  traffic.  The  most  extensive  exchange,  perhaps,  was  carried 
on  in  provisions  that  could  be  preserved,  such  as  dried  or  buccaned 
meat,  maize,  maple  sugar,  and  other  animal  or  vegetable  substances. 
Those  who  were  abundantly  provided  with  one  or  the  other  article  of 
food  bartered  it  to  their  less  favored  neighbors,  who,  in  return,  paid 
them  in  superfluous  products  or  in  manufactures  of  their  own.  Con- 
cerning the  ways  of  communication,  the  North  American  continent 
afforded,  by  its  many  n.avigable  waters,  rivers  as  well  as  lakes,  perhaps 
greater  facilities  for  a  primitive  commerce  than  any  other  part  of  the 
earth,  and  the  canoe  was  the  means  of  conveyance  for  carrying  on  this 
commerce. 

The  learned  Jesuit,  Lafitau,  has  given  some  account  of  Indian  trade 
as  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at  which  period 
he  lived,  as  a  missionary,  in  North  America.  "The  savage  nations," 
he  says,  "  always  trade  among  each  other.  Their  commerce  is,  like  that 
of  the  ancients,  a  simple  exchange  of  wares  against  wares.  They  all 
have  something  particular  which  the  others  have  not,  and  the  traffic 

•Swan,  The  Indians  of  Cape  Flattery,  at  the  Entrance  to  the  Strait  of  Fnca,  Wasb- 
ingtou  Territory,  Wusbingtou,  1870,  p.  48. 


46 


ANCIENT   AHORIGINAL   TRADK    IN   NORTH    AMERICA. 


m 

hi 


makcH  these  tliiiipfH  circulate  amon;;  tUcm.  Tlieir  wares  are  )?raiii,  por- 
celain (wampum),  furs,  robes,  tobacct),  uuits,  canoes,  work  made  of  moose 
or  buffalo  hair  and  of  porcupine  rpiills,  cotton-beds,  domestic  utensils — 
in  a  word,  all  sorts  of  necessaries  of  life  required  by  them."*  A  passage 
from  Lawson,  a  contemporary  of  Ladtau,  may  also  bo  inserted  with  pro- 
priety in  this  place.  Speaking  of  the  natives  of  Carolina,  he  says: 
^'The  women  make  baskets  and  mats  to  lie  upon,  and  those  that  are  not 
extraordinary  hunters  make  bowls,  dishes,  and  spoons  of  gum-wood  and 
the  tulip-tree;  others,  where  they  lind  a  vein  of  white  clay  lit  for  their 
purpose,  make  tobacco-pipes,  all  v.hich  are  often  transported  to  other 
Indians  that,  perhaps,  have  greater  plenty  of  deer  and  other  game,  &c. 

The  arrival  of  the  whites  produced  a  thorough  change  in  Indian  life, 
wherever  a  contact  between  the  two  races  took  place.  The  age  of  stone 
and  that  of  iron  met,  almost  without  an  intervening  link,  for  the  so- 
called  North  American  "  copper  period"  was  but  of  little  practical  sig- 
nificance. Simultaneously  with  the  settlement  of  the  eastern  parts  of 
North  America  by  the  whites,  there  arose  a  trailic  between  these  and  the 
Indians  in  their  neighborhood,  which  provided  the  latter  with  implo. 
ments  and  utensils  so  far  superior  to  their  own,  that  they  soon  ceased  to 
manufacture  and  use  them.  The  keen-edged  steel  axe  superseded  the 
clumsy  and  far  less  serviceable  stone  tomahawk;  the  European  knife 
did  away  with  the  cutting  implement  of  flint;  and  those  of  the  natives 
who  could  not  obtain  tire-arras  at  least  headed  their  arrows  with  points 
of  iron  or  brass.  The  potter's  art  was  neglected,  solid  and  durabk 
vessels  of  metal  supplying  the  place  of  the  fragile  aboriginal  fabrics  ' 
clay.  Instead  of  procuring  fire  by  turning  a  wooden  stick,  fitting  in  a 
small  cavity  of  another  piece  of  wood,  rapidly  between  their  hands  until 
ignition  was  effected,  the  natives  now  resorted  to  the  far  preferable 
method  of  striking  fire  with  steel  and  flint.  Their  dress,  too,  underwent 
changes,  pliant  woolen  and  cotton  textures  being  employed  to  a  certain 
extent  instead  of  dressed  skins.  Formerly,  when  the  Indians  wished  to 
make  one  of  their  more  durable  canoes  or  a  large  mortar  for  pounding 
maize,  they  had  first  to  fell  a  suitable  tree,  a  task  which,  on  account  of 
the  insuflSciency  of  their  tools,  required  much  labor  and  time.  Being 
unable  to  cut  down  a  tree  with  their  stone  axes,  they  resorted  to  fire, 
burning  the  tree  around  its  foot  and  removing  the  charred  portion  with 
their  stone  implements.  This  was  continued  until  the  tree  fell.  Then 
they  marked  the  length  to  be  given  to  the  object,  and  resumed  at  the 
proper  place  the  process  of  burning  and  removing.  In  a  similar  manner 
the  hollowing  of  the  tree  was  effected.  But  now  a  few  strokes  of  the 
European  axe  did  the  same  work  which  formerly,  perhaps,  required  days ; 
and  to  a  race  as  indolent  and  averse  to  labor  as  the  Indians,  the  effect 
of  that  simple  tool  must  have  appeared  almost  miraculous. 


f  1 


)« 


*  Lafitau,  Moenrs  des  Sauvages  Amdriqnains,  Paris,  1724,  Vol.  II,  p.  332. 

t  Lawson,  History  of  Carolina,  London,  1714 ;  reprint,  Raleigh,  1860,  p.  338. 


por- 


ANCIENT   AIJORIGINAL   TRADE   IN   NORTH    AMERICA.  4? 

Greater  however,  than  these  and  mauy  other  advantaeos  were  the 
evUs  which  the  eoutact  with  the  whites  brought  upon  them  a  'd  in 
sueeumbing  to  the  o^^rwhellniug  power  of  the  Caueasiansthe'y  shared 
the  fate  of  every  inferior  race  that  takes  up  the  contest  wi  h  one  "Z 
pying  a  higher  rank  in  the  family  of  men. 


<   I 


i'.ii 


